In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive, is developing standards of ‘good practice’ in the management of work related stress. These standards are designed to help organizations understand more about stress in the workplace and ways of reducing its prevalence (Mackay 2003). The government initiative in the UK is focussed on nine sources of workplace stress (Daniels et al., 2003):

• Poorly designed/managed workload;
• Poorly designed/managed work scheduling;
• Poorly designed /managed work design;
• Poorly designed/managed physical environment;
• Poorly designed/managed other sources of demand;
• Lack of skill discretion;
• Lack of decision authority or other forms of control;
• Lack of support;
• Poorly designed/managed PROCEDURES for eliminating conflict (e.g., bullying/harassment).

According to the above, having too little or too much stimulation at work could be considered stressful. This is because it can be seen to fit within each of the categories which are seen as sources of workplace stress.

Cox (1980) has provided one explanation of this. He suggested the effect of repetitive understimulating work on health occurs through what he termed an emergency stress response. This occurs when someone performing a repetitive task has to readjust his or her attention suddenly because it had DRIFTED away from the task. He argued the impact on health of repetitive work occurs because of the physiological ‘wear and tear’ caused by these sudden and more frequent ‘attentional shifts’ experienced by those doing repetitive jobs.

More specifically this ‘wear and tear’ seems to come from elevations in heart rate and noradrenaline levels—a HORMONE associated with hardening of the arteries. Many people at work FACE the opposite problem—having to cope with too much stimulation. Overstimulation can be as stressful, if not more so, than understimulation. Perhaps the classic example of a job in which large amounts of variable information have to be coped with is air-traffic control. The health costs in terms of ulcers, skin disorders, hypertension, and respiratory complaints have been well documented over many years (e.g. Martindale, 1977; Rose et al., 1978).

In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive, is developing standards of ‘good practice’ in the management of work related stress. These standards are designed to help organizations understand more about stress in the workplace and ways of reducing its prevalence (Mackay 2003). The government initiative in the UK is focussed on nine sources of workplace stress (Daniels et al., 2003):

• Poorly designed/managed workload;
• Poorly designed/managed work scheduling;
• Poorly designed /managed work design;
• Poorly designed/managed physical environment;
• Poorly designed/managed other sources of demand;
• Lack of skill discretion;
• Lack of decision authority or other forms of control;
• Lack of support;
• Poorly designed/managed procedures for eliminating conflict (e.g., bullying/harassment).

According to the above, having too little or too much stimulation at work could be considered stressful. This is because it can be seen to fit within each of the categories which are seen as sources of workplace stress.

Cox (1980) has provided one explanation of this. He suggested the effect of repetitive understimulating work on health occurs through what he termed an emergency stress response. This occurs when someone performing a repetitive task has to readjust his or her attention suddenly because it had drifted away from the task. He argued the impact on health of repetitive work occurs because of the physiological ‘wear and tear’ caused by these sudden and more frequent ‘attentional shifts’ experienced by those doing repetitive jobs.

More specifically this ‘wear and tear’ seems to come from elevations in heart rate and noradrenaline levels—a hormone associated with hardening of the arteries. Many people at work face the opposite problem—having to cope with too much stimulation. Overstimulation can be as stressful, if not more so, than understimulation. Perhaps the classic example of a job in which large amounts of variable information have to be coped with is air-traffic control. The health costs in terms of ulcers, skin disorders, hypertension, and respiratory complaints have been well documented over many years (e.g. Martindale, 1977; Rose et al., 1978).