Avoiding and Managing Stress

Work environments that are unfair and unpredictable have been labeled "toxic workplaces". A toxic workplace is one in which a company does not value its employees or treat them fairly. Statistically, organizations that value employees are more profitable than those that do not.

Research shows that working in an environment that is seen as fair helps to buffer the effects of stress. This reduced stress may be because employees feel a greater sense of status and self-esteem or due to a greater sense of trust within the organization. These findings hold for outcomes individuals receive as well as the process for distributing those outcomes.

Whatever the case, it is clear that organizations have many reasons to create work environments characterized by fairness, including lower stress levels for employees. In fact, one study showed that training supervisors to be more interpersonally sensitive even helped nurses feel less stressed about a pay cut.

Supervisor Support: Work-Family Conflict Survey

Think of your current or most recent supervisor and rate each of the following items in terms of this person's behavior toward you.

Answer the following questions using 1 = not at all, 2 = somewhat, 3 = fully agree

1. My supervisor is willing to listen to my problems in juggling work and nonwork life.
2. My supervisor takes the time to learn about my personal needs.
3. My supervisor makes me feel comfortable talking to him or her about my conflicts between work and nonwork.
4. My supervisor and I can talk effectively to solve conflicts between work and nonwork issues.
5. I can depend on my supervisor to help me with scheduling conflicts if I need it.
6. I can rely on my supervisor to make sure my work responsibilities are handled when I have unanticipated nonwork demands.
7. My supervisor works effectively with workers to creatively solve conflicts between work and nonwork.
8. My supervisor is a good role model for work and nonwork balance.
9. My supervisor demonstrates effective behaviors in how to juggle work and nonwork balance.
10. My supervisor demonstrates how a person can jointly be successful on and off the job.
11. My supervisor thinks about how the work in my department can be organized to jointly benefit employees and the company.
12. My supervisor asks for suggestions to make it easier for employees to balance work and nonwork demands.
13. My supervisor is creative in reallocating job duties to help my department work better as a team.
14. My supervisor is able to manage the department as a whole team to enable everyone's needs to be met.

Add up all your ratings to see how your supervisor stacks up.

Scoring:

• A score of 14 to 23 indicates low levels of supervisor support.
• A score of 24 to 33 indicates average levels of supervisor support.
• A score of 34 to 42 indicates high levels of supervisor support.