Workplace Stress Leads to Chronic Illness, New Research Shows

Louisville, KY (WorkersCompensation.com) - Toxic workplaces aren't just frustrating and annoying, they can put workers at risk of developing chronic diseases a new study has found. 

According to research from the University of Louisville, workers in toxic or negative workplaces may be more likely to develop chronic illnesses like cardiovascular disease. The study links things like stress, work capacity, the physical and social work environment, and whether or not work is meaningful to workers' long-term health. 

"One of the things that I think is commonly explored in models of work is ... 'do you climb ladders all day? Are you around toxic chemicals? Are you in ... a physically safe environment?'" said Dr. Brad Shuck, organizational culture researcher at the university's College of Education and Human Development, and one of the study's authors. "What our research shows is that there are social and cultural factors about how work feels, and it's not just about how much work you do, but how you do that work and how that work gets done around you, that then impacts your risk for chronic disease." 

Researchers asked more than 200 Louisville residents to rate statements like "People often ignore me at work," "I feel supported at work," and "The work I do is meaningful" to determine their well-being and how they felt about their work environment. 

The researchers then analyzed urine samples to get both subjective and objective data. The results, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, showed "a significant and important relationship between how we experience work and quantitative markers of our overall health." 

Researcher Dr. Rachel Keith said the results showed that participants who reported greater well-being, engagement and positive feelings toward their work environment had lower levels of stress hormones, while the opposite was true for participants reporting poor well-being, isolation and negative feelings toward work. Higher levels of stress hormones indicate chronic stress and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic health conditions. 

“Stress is fine in smaller, short-term doses, and may even help us to finish an important project or solve a big crisis,” Keith said. “But if our work culture puts us under constant stress, this study suggests it can affect our health and our risk for chronic conditions over time.”

Burnout due to stress is a leading cause of the current "Great Resignation," researchers said, especially among younger workers. Another recent study from Deloitte, showed that about 46 percent of Gen Z and 45 percent of millennial workers report feeling burned out by their work environments and reported they hoped to quit within the next two years. 

Shuck said better understanding of work determinants of health could help reduce burnout and improve both employee retention and health.

At Mission CISD, a school district in south Texas near the Mexico border, creating more positive workplaces by providing wellness rooms for employees has increased productivity and decreased medical claims, the district said. 

In 2022, the district received the Risk Management Fund Excellence Award from the Texas Association of School Boards. The wellness rooms were located at all 22 campuses and the district's central office, and were put in place after the district noticed the effects of COVID on both the mental and physical health of its employees. 

"With the increase in cases, we felt like we couldn’t just sit back and do nothing about it,” said Sylvia Cruz, who oversees risk management for Mission CISD. 

Each campus created its own wellness room using funds from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Wellness Initiative to purchase things like Ninja blenders, a weight scale, a blood pressure machine and an exercise machine (vibration plate). Campuses then personalized their own spaces. For instance, in the district's central office, organizers added a treadmill, elliptical machine, rower and weight set. 

“Some campuses have gone above and beyond and gotten massage chairs for their wellness rooms,” said Cruz. 

The district said that since the wellness rooms were implemented, medical claims have fallen by more than 15 percent in one year. Claims between January through August 2022 were $1,331,376 lower, Cruz said, and pharmacy claims for 2022 decreased by $73,016.

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