Senior lecturer in Management at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Dr. Dion Greenidge.
Some of those in attendance at the Barbados Association of Office Professionals seminar at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre to mark Administrative Professionals’ Day yesterday.

Work stress a real issue

A senior lecturer in Management at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus is adamant that work stress is real and present in workplaces in this country.

Dr. Dion Greenidge was delivering a talk yesterday at a seminar hosted by the Barbados Association of Office Professionals at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre to mark Administrative Professionals’ Day. 
 
Dr. Greenidge, speaking on the topic “Reducing Employee Absence and Enhancing Workplace Productivity”, told the scores of office professionals present that dissatisfaction in the workplace can lead to frustration and work-related stress, which can result in absenteeism.
 
“Work is a place that is stressful, work stress is a real issue. Now because we don’t see on the death certificate, work stress, we don’t feel it is an issue. In fact, it is one of the downfalls of the policies in our country, whereas a lot of workplace policy neglects the psychosocial work environment,” he said.
 
The university lecturer bolstered that point as he noted that even though the Health and Safety at Work Act does consider hazards in the workplace, it stops short of recognising work stress as one of those hazards.
 
“If you go to the doctor you may have a headache, you might have a musculoskeletal disorder, you may have a cardiovascular disorder or disease as a result, but you don’t know what is the reason for that, and sometimes it is largely because of our work environment. The psychosocial environment needed to be considered… That’s why if you look at legislation in the UK, the US, for example, you talk about assessment for this type of harm, recognising that the employer has a responsibility for ensuring…that there is a reduction of work stress or work related illnesses as a result of the work environment,” he said.
 
Greenidge added, “The work environment does cause harm. We spend a lot of our time at work… Work influences our lives and therefore that needs to be considered.”
 
He explained that work stress has individual, organisational and behavioural consequences. With that in mind, he noted that work related stress, though not the only cause of absenteeism, can cause employees to stay away from work, and by extension affect the productivity of those companies. That, he said, not only results in a cost to the organisation but the country as well.
 
He made the point as he noted that according to global statistics, absence from work costs companies an estimated US$645 per employee per year. Moreover, he highlighted that a study done here in Barbados on 25 companies revealed that employee absence was estimated at $3 million for a six-month period.
 
“If you were to extrapolate that you can understand the real cost of absence to a country,” he said. (JRT)
 

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