Essay: Work Stress

Nowadays, work stress seems to be a challenge that many people deal with daily. As much as one third of the absenteeism is caused by psychosocial workload (Rijksoverheid, 2013). Studies show that work stress may have negative effects on physiological, psychological, cognitive, behavioural, psychosocial, and social outcomes (e.g. Tennant, 2001; Hotopf & Wessely, 1997; Haapakangas, Helenius, Keskinen, & Hongisto, 2008). Aside from its impact on employees’ health and well-being, stress also has a significant economic impact on organizations. For example, Koningsveld, Zwinkels, Mossink, Thie, and Abspoel (2003) calculated that 45% of the total costs of absenteeism and disability in the Netherlands (12 billion euros) is due to job stress-related sick-leave and disability. For the well-being of employees as well as for the welfare of organisations it is important to reduce work stress.
Characteristics of the office environment consistently prove to have a significant influence on behaviour, perceptions, and productivity of workers (e.g. Altman & Lett, 1969; Oldham & Rotchford, 1983; Woods & Canter, 1970). Many organizations are reappraising their facilities these days to create a workspace that meets the needs of an increasingly diverse and demanding workforce (Davis, Leach, & Clegg, 2011). Due to lower costs and convenience, the concept of open-plan office use continues to increase (Kamarulzaman, Saleh, Hashim, Hashim, & Abdul-Ghani, 2011). Another cause of the current evolution of office workspace design is the changing nature of work (Laing, 2006). Worker productivity in the knowledge economy is less a matter of improving speed and accuracy of routine tasks and increasingly a function of generating new ideas, being creative, working effectively in teams, and generating knowledge that adds value to the organisation (Vischer, 2008). Employees change how they spend their time, the kinds of task they carry out and, above all, where they choose to work (Duffy, 2000). As a result, organizations are increasingly investing in