Stress in the Workplace What is stress? Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure. It isn’t a d

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问题                        Stress in the Workplace
    What is stress?

    Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure. It isn’t a disease. But if stress is intense and goes on for some time, it can lead to mental and physical ill health (e. g. depression, nervous breakdown, heart disease).
    Being under pressure can often improve performance, but when demands and pressures become excessive, they lead to stress. And it’s clear from the recognised symptoms of stress that it’s actually bad for you.
    As an employer, is it my concern?
    Yes. It’s your duty in law to make sure that your employees aren’t made ill by their work. And stress can make your employees ill. Also, action to reduce stress can be very cost-effective. The costs of stress to your organisation may show up as high staff turnover, an increase in sickness absence, reduced work performance, poor timekeeping and more customer complaints. Stress in one person can also lead to stress in staff who have to cover for their colleague. Also, employers who don’t take stress seriously may leave themselves open to compensation claims from employees who have suffered ill health from work-related stress.
    Under health and safety law, what must I do about stress?
    Where stress caused or made worse by work could lead to ill health, you must assess the risk. A risk assessment for stress involves:
    looking for pressures at work that could cause high and long-lasting levels of stress
    deciding who might be harmed by these pressures
    deciding whether you are doing enough to prevent that harm
    necessary, you must then take reasonable steps to deal with those pressures.
    Isn’t stress also caused by problems outside work?
    Are you saying I have to do something about that?
    You are not under a legal duty to prevent ill health caused by stress due to problems outside work (e. g. financial or domestic worries). But non-work problems can make it difficult for people to cope with the pressures of work, and their performance at work might suffer. So being understanding to staff in this position would be in your interests.
    Are some people more likely to suffer from stress than others?
    We’re all vulnerable to stress, depending on the pressure we’re under at any given time: even people who are usually very hardy. As an employer, you’re responsible for making sure that work doesn’t make your employees ill. If you notice that someone is particularly vulnerable because of their circumstances, look at how their work is organized. See if there are ways to relieve the pressures so that they do not become excessive. However, unless you know otherwise, you can assume that all your employees are mentally capable of withstanding reasonable pressure from work.
    How do I recognize stress in a particular person?
    Many of the outward signs of stress in individuals should be noticeable to managers and colleagues. Look, in particular, for changes in a person’s mood or behavior, such as deteriorating relationships with colleagues, irritability, indecisiveness, absenteeism or reduced performance.
    Those suffering from stress may also smoke or drink alcohol more than usual or even turn to drugs.
    They might also complain about their health: for example, they may get frequent headaches.
Why is it important for employers to take stress seriously?

选项 A、The law requires them to make their workplaces stress-free.
B、Reducing stress can be very expensive.
C、Ignoring stress in employees may be expensive for the organization.
D、Stressed workers complain a lot.

答案C

解析 文章第二段最后一句提到:如果雇主们没能认真对待压力,他们可能会支付赔偿金给那些由于工作压力太大而得病的雇员们,因此C选项符合题意。  
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