A healthy workplace can reduce anxiety levels

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More than a decade ago, health experts from across Canada warned that anxiety levels in the workplace were reaching epidemic  per portions, and that stress could some day be the leading cause of loss time disability.
 They were right?
 
According to Statistics Canada, one in three workers are stressed out owing to excessive work demands and hours. Tallying up the costs, health care expenditures are 50 per cent higher for workers reporting high stress levels, and stress-related absences cost employers an estimated $3.5-billion annually.
  The bright spot is that mounting evidence shows the positive benefits of health-enhancing work environments. Workplace thinking and action are shifting, paying more attention to the underlying determinants of health.
 
Many employers are heralding axiom:  A healthy work environment means healthy employees, who can sustain healthy performance for the organization over the long term. Most are not. Why not?
Could it be that employer and employee view a healthy workplace differently?
 
A national survey by Canadian Policy Research Networks asked workers whether they considered their work environments to be healthy. The results confirmed that the key dimensions of workplace relationships are strongly associated with perceptions of a healthy work environment.
 
Workers in jobs that are stressful and hectic with heavy workloads and conflicting demands don't consider their work environments to be healthy. This validates through the eyes of employees a key finding from job stress research: that demanding jobs in which individuals have little control over pressures and workloads pose health risks.
  But this study offers a new insight about healthy workplaces. More important than workloads and demands are the social relationships in the workplace.
The survey found that, from an employee's perspective, the foundations of a healthy work environment are good communication, a positive relationship with one's supervisor, friendly and helpful co-workers and receiving recognition. Both employees and employers benefit from these "healthy" relationships through higher job satisfaction and commitment, reduced turnover and less absenteeism. 
 
This research suggests that, at a deeper level, healthy work environments also are built on trust. Many employees understand this, especially those who have lived through trust-shattering experiences such as downsizing, mergers or massive restructuring. WSN