Retail Merchandiser

These industry experts outline what steps to take to ensure job-related stresses don’t batter your bottom line.

You have undoubtedly seen the signs.

An unhappy customer returns an item to your store, complaining about the quality. Instead of politely listening to her complaints, your employee is abrupt, rude, and engages the customer in an argument. Or, a longtime trusted employee begins to make mistakes in handling money or is so preoccupied that she slips and falls.

These are among the many potential signs of employee stress—stress that left unchecked can cost you, the retail employer, a bundle. Whether your employees’ stress is directly related to the job or predominantly due to problems at home, failing to address it can result in increased injury, illness, deterioration in performance, and the loss of good workers and customers.

According to the American Institute of Stress, job-related stress costs US employers $300 billion per year in absenteeism, employee turnover, reduced productivity, and direct medical, legal, and insurance costs. Numerous studies have found that overtime and extended work shifts increase job stress and its impacts. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed 52 research reports on the association between working long hours and illnesses, injuries, health behaviors, and performance (see sidebar below).

Among the many findings:

• In 16 of 22 research studies, overtime work was associated with increased injury rates, a greater number of illnesses, poorer perceived general health, or increased deaths. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that its preliminary 2008 data shows workplace suicides were up 28% in 2008 over 2007.

• Six studies that examined 12-hour shifts combined with more than 40 hours of work per week found deterioration in performance, a slower pace of work, or an increase in health complaints.

• Four studies reported that the ninth to 12th hours of work in 12-hour shifts were associated with increased fatigue, feelings of decreased alertness, lower cognitive function, declines in vigilance on tasks, and increased injuries.

Retail work can be very stressful in and of itself, particularly at this time of the year. NIOSH notes there is increasing evidence that stress plays a role in several types of chronic health problems, especially cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and psychological disorders. In extreme situations, job-related stress can result in workplace violence, such as an incident that occurred in Montana where a discount store employee shot a co-worker in the head during an alleged argument over the length of the co-worker’s work break.

Steps for retail employers

There are a number of steps you as a retail owner or manager can take to reduce your employees’ job-related stress and the resulting high costs to your operation. A good first step is to understand the definition of job-related stress. In a publication entitled STRESS… At Work, NIOSH defines job stress as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, and needs of the worker.

Although working conditions play a primary role in causing job stress, the role of individual factors cannot be ignored, NIOSH says. In other words, two employees doing virtually the same retail work may respond very differently. One may be able to handle the job-related stress. But the other employee—particularly if that person is having marital problems, is having difficulty finding day care for his or her child, or is unable to pay his or her bills—may not be able to handle the additional work-related stress.

NIOSH suggests you take these three steps to help prevent job-related employee stress:

STEP 1: Identify the problem

Low employee morale, health and job complaints, and high turnover are often the first signs of job stress. But in today’s fragile economy, workers fearful of losing their jobs are unlikely to complain.

It’s important to find a way to collect information from managers, supervisors, and other employees so you can determine the causes and the extent of job-related stress. You might hold group discussions with employees or design an employee survey that includes questions on perceptions of work conditions, stress, health, and job satisfaction. If you are uncertain how to design a survey that will collect measurable data—or how to analyze the resulting data—an outside consultant or your local college or university’s psychology department should be able to provide assistance.

As you are working to identify the problem, be sure that you and your other managers have the skills needed to approach an employee who is showing signs of stress. Being a good listener is step one. Then provide the person with internal and/or external assistance. Know what resources are available in your community, such as county or local mental health agencies, community organizations that provide assistance with financial problems, local clinics (particularly free clinics or those with sliding fee scales), toll-free crisis hotlines, and organizations geared toward women’s issues (such as battered women hotlines). Post the phone numbers of these agencies and hotlines in employee break rooms, employee restrooms, and other areas where your workers will see them.

An employee assistance program (EAP) can also be another good resource. Be aware, however, that some employees may be hesitant to use it due to embarrassment or fear that their personal information will get out to co-workers or to their boss.

STEP 2: Design and implement interventions

The interventions you choose will depend on the information you collect in identifying the problem. If you hold group discussions with employees, be sure to ask them for their ideas on how to resolve the issues. You may want to appoint a small team, comprising management and employee representatives, to determine the most appropriate interventions. Also, you may have learned that interventions are only needed in certain areas of your operation—or that they vary among departments.

If you surveyed your employees, be sure to give them feedback on what was found and what actions are being considered to remedy or address the problems.

Additional interventions to consider include:

• Offer an occupational stress workshop. Ask local agencies in your community for suggestions on trained persons who could lead this. Be sure the workshop includes discussion of steps both employees and management can take to reduce job-related stress.
• Set up an ongoing occupational stress committee. Again, this committee should have representation from both management and employees. It’s important that the committee not become a vehicle for employee complaints. Instead, it should focus on solutions your organization can put in place based on the data collected in identifying the problem.

Other ideas you can implement, depending on the sources of the job stress, include increasing the skill levels of employees through training or other means, providing cross-training to give employees a chance to rotate between jobs, improving physical work conditions, offering flex time or other types of work schedules, and providing career development training and a formal career ladder for employees hoping to move into higher positions.

STEP 3: Evaluate the interventions

NIOSH suggests that you establish specific timetables for evaluating the effectiveness of your various interventions and that you evaluate them over the short term (for example, on a quarterly basis) and the long term (annually).

Long-term evaluations should focus on such objective data as employee turnover rates, absenteeism, and injury/illness rates. More immediate improvements may be evident in the quality of interactions with customers and co-workers as well as fewer incidents of signs of stress. Know that as conditions change—employees leave, new employees come on board, and/or the overall economic climate changes—the sources of job-related stress and preventive solutions may also change. That’s one of the reasons it’s important to take a long-term approach to this issue. And again, if you are not sure how to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of your interventions, an outside consultant or other outside resource can provide assistance.

Barbara Mulhern is a freelance writer who specializes in occupational safety and health issues. Vern Putz Anderson, PhD, CPE, is a public health advisor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.