Work stress can have many sources: mobbing, professional dissatisfaction, excessive workload. The most common cause, however, is another, at least according to an extensive analysis just published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior: 500 studies conducted over over 60 years speak clearly, the real danger is not being clear about one’s responsibilities, the expectations of superiors or the criteria with which one is evaluated. An all too common problem, it seems, which affects companies of different sizes and production sectors across the board.
The hierarchy of risk factors
The study examined three specific causes of stress in the workplace. The first is precisely ambiguity, or chronic uncertainty about what tasks are required or how to meet company expectations. The second is role conflict, which occurs when an employee must manage contradictory demands that cannot be satisfied at the same time. The third, finally, is overload, the condition in which the amount of work accumulated exceeds the capabilities and time available to complete it. The authors of the analysis took into consideration 60 years of research, for a total of over 80 thousand participants, arriving at a clear conclusion: even if overwork may seem like the worst problem, in reality uncertainty is the real enemy of workers.
Impacts on health and performance
The data shows that role ambiguity is not only a cause of stress and limited personal satisfaction among employees, but is the primary cause of a decline in work performance. When people don’t have defined goals, they tend to stop putting in more than the bare minimum, because they don’t understand how their effort can translate into professional growth. Role ambiguity therefore tends to create stressed and unproductive employees. However, actual job burnout, which causes full-blown psychological distress and leads to the desire to be fired, was found to be more closely linked to role conflicts. Finally, overwork is the main cause of immediate physical and mental health problems.
What to do?
The researchers underline that the results should have direct implications on the organization of work in the company. To date, much more attention has been paid to avoiding excessive workloads and role conflicts, probably due to their more immediate and obvious consequences. The rigorous definition of processes and individual responsibilities is, however, a less careful aspect, which however still causes great discomfort in workers, and also directly affects productivity. The research suggests that more precise and less emphatic communication during the onboarding phase and in the daily management of work would therefore represent the most effective tool for building a healthy and sustainable working environment, for workers and for the companies themselves.