Foxconn Suicides Just Tip of the Iceberg: Why 55% of Workers Are Stressed Out

The wave of suicides at China's Foxconn is the latest and most alarming result of rising workplace stress. But elsewhere too, the global crisis seems to have taken a toll on workers' emotional well-being; the threat of losing your job or home or financial stability is deeply unsettling. Now researchers have found at least two other causes of stress.







Ten suicides of workers at Foxconn, the company that produces the iPad, Dell laptops, and other products that feed our hunger for the latest low-cost gadgets, have rocked both China and the global community in recent days. And already the name that sounds like ¨fox¨ and ¨con¨ might be fodder for late-night comedy shows. 

But instead of getting outraged by (admittedly bad) conditions at Chinese factories, we would do well to admit it: Stress has grown in other places too. For example, 40 percent of U.S. workers surveyed by MetLife said their workloads have increased in the past 12 months; and 36 percent of employers said they have put greater pressure on workers to be more productive.  

Worker satisfaction is at an all-time low. A recent report by the Conference Board shows that less than half -- 45 percent -- of U.S. workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61 percent in 1987. Employees under 25 expressed the highest level of dissatisfaction: Roughly 64 percent of workers under 25 said they were unhappy in their jobs. The recession has been especially hard on young workers, who face fewer opportunities now and lower wages, some analysts say.

Unhappy workers are at higher risk for heart problems and depression, among other things. This month, Danish researchers reported on a 15-year study of 12,000 nurses finding that nurses struggling with excessive work pressures had double the risk for a heart attack. And a British study tracking 6,000 workers for 11 years found that those who regularly worked more than 10 hours a day had a 60 percent higher risk for heart disease than those who put in 7 hours.

But it's not about the long hours per se. People who work overtime are not necessarily unhappier than people who work less, and many happy workers don't mind putting in extra time to get the job done and reach for their dreams. In fact they might get so sucked into the challenge that they forget to have dinner.

The question is, Where do they work, and for whom? Samuel A. Culbert, a clinical psychologist who teaches at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, says too many people work in a “toxic” environment.

The poison in the air (the temper tantrums, the egos, the buck-passing, the bickering, the blame game, the rumors, the water-cooler gossip) is all too often a result of “destructive leadership.” Supervisors play a significant role in the psychological health of their employees. Even if a workplace can’t eliminate stress, research suggests that employees cope better when they have a good relationship with their boss.

Even if bosses rarely assault their subordinates physically like in this video, bad bosses are an enormous source of stress. In one British study of nurses, workers who didn’t like their supervisors had consistently elevated blood pressure throughout the workday.

Problems with a boss are among the most common reasons workers quit their jobs. Robert I. Sutton'snew book “Good Boss, Bad Boss” argues that good bosses are essential to workplace success.

“Who is the biggest source of stress on the job? It’s your immediate supervisor,” he said. “The pile of evidence coming out shows that if you want to be an effective organization or an effective boss, you’ve got to strike a balance between humanity and performance.”

A second source of enormous stress is—the annual performance review. Culbert's new book throws a spotlight on the culprit: “Get Rid of the Performance Review!¨

But more about that in my next post. 

How you can use the ¨Communicate or Die¨ book or workshop to shift from a toxic work climate to a high-performance environment.