I Am Stressed Out With Work: What Do Scholars Say About Stressful Jobs?

As the high level of stress is a common thing among employees of diverse backgrounds (e.g., personality, gender, sexuality, age, education, socioeconomic status, region, culture, language) in today’s workplace, we aimed to learn what scholars have found about it. We are very pleased and grateful that Dr. Md Rashedul Islam (MRI) shared his knowledge, research, and expertise with The Asian Age to help us understand work stress better. This interview was taken by Shahidujjaman Khan.

Dr. Md Rashedul Islam (MRI) completed his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (major) and Mathematics (minor) from Ashford University (Clinton, IA, USA) in 2016 and MS and PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (major) and Human Factors Psychology (minor) from Wright State University (Dayton, OH, USA) in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Currently, Dr. Islam is serving as an assistant professor and researcher of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, GA, USA. In the past, he served as an assistant professor and researcher at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, MN, USA and Salem State University in Salem, MA, USA.

Dr. Md Rashedul Islam (MRI) presented his research projects at the conferences of Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP; USA), Association for Psychological Science (APS; USA), American Psychological Association (APA; USA), National Occupational Injury Research Symposium (NOIRS; USA), International Congress of Stress, Performance, and Wellness (ICSPW; India), Canadian Psychological Association (CPA; Canada), European Congress of Work and Organizational Psychology (ECWOP; Czech Republic), and International Conference on Management and Business (ICMBCONF; UK).  

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : Hi! Dr. Md Rashedul Islam! How are you?

MRI: Hi! I am doing well. Thank you! How are you?

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : I am doing well. Thank you! I have a few questions about workplace stress that I would like to ask you.
MRI: Sure! Please proceed.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : We mention the words “work is stressful” in almost every discussion, everywhere, and every day! Nonetheless, there are many different definitions of work stress among the employees, and even general people. My first question is how you would like to define it. And work stressors.

MRI: Thank you for your questions! Work stress is a process by which work environmental events/situations initiate a series of cognitive and physiological reactions that ultimately affect employee well-being (both psychological and physiological). On the other hand, work stressors are the work environmental events/situations that relate to stress in employees. For example, organizational constraints, role ambiguity, interpersonal conflict, job insecurity, and work–family conflict.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : We also mention the word “strain” a lot followed by a conversation on work stress. How would you like to define it?
MRI: You are right; we do that! Strain is the employees’ responses to work stressors. There are three different types of responses: (a) psychological (e.g., frustration, dissatisfaction, depression, turnover intention), (b) physiological (e.g., headache, eye strain, sleep disturbance, fatigue), and (c) behavioral (e.g., workplace incivility, absence, [more] smoking, [more] drinking, turnover).

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : Even though we all have some ideas why work is stressful, I would like to know the scholarly information on the factors that relate to work stress.

MRI: Certainly! There are many different factors that research has found to be related with experiencing stress at work. For example, personality, age, work environments, and job conditions.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : Personality is a very interesting factor! Please tell us how personality is related to work stress. Are there any specific personalities that lead us to experience a higher level of work stress?

MRI: Indeed, it is! The relationships between personalities and work stress are mostly moderate. Yes, there are several personalities that research has found to be related to experiencing a high level of stress at work. For example, negative affectivity (generally experiencing negative emotions, like anxiety, sadness, anger, and fear in any situation), proactive personality, dispositional optimism, Type-A personality (some features are high ambition, competitiveness, perfectionism, hostility, orderliness, workaholism, overachievement, and a strong desire to accomplish more in less time), conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, resilience, and hardiness.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : There are many personalities! I am surprised! Here is a follow-up question I just came up with: Do two or more personalities interactively impact our experience of work stress?

MRI: Happy to surprise you! Ha…Ha…Ha…! Thanks for a brilliant follow-up question! Yes, they interactively impact our experiences and in interesting ways! Research has found interactive effects of two or more personalities on various workplace outcomes (e.g., job performance, job satisfaction, and workplace deviant behaviors). For example, a recent study found that employees with a higher level of curmudgeon personality (a distinct personality that views both positive and negative stimuli as negative, and thus, dislikes them) and a higher level of extraversion or emotional expressiveness experience more workplace incivility than employees with a lower level of curmudgeon personality and a lower level of extroversion or emotional expressiveness.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : When you mentioned age, is it that the younger employees experience more work stress than older employees? Or is it the other way around?

MRI: That’s an excellent question! Thank you! Well, what we have found is it depends on different work situations. For example, when it comes to problem-solving and time to complete tasks, younger employees experience more stress than older employees. When it comes to job insecurity, older employees experience more work stress than younger employees.

Also, specific work experience might make the “age” factor of no importance. For example, an employee who is 35 years old and has been working in the healthcare industry for about 7-8 years is not expected to experience a higher-level of work stress than an employee who is 56 years old and has just started working in the same industry. Here, we are highlighting the work experience, not the age!  

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : General people tend to believe that experiencing stress at work might be different for male and female employees. What are your thoughts on this?

MRI: Thank you for bringing the “gender” factor here. Indeed, most people tend to believe that. Findings from research suggest it depends on stressors and how frequently you experience them. For example, interpersonal conflict was a more frequently reported source of stress for female employees than male employees. Long working-hour (e.g., more than 50 hours/week) was a more frequently reported source of stress for male employees than female employees. However, if we consider overall stress at work, research found no significant gender difference.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : You mentioned work environments as a factor. What kinds of work environments are related to stress at work?

MRI: Well! When we talk about work environments, we refer to work situations or environments that hinder job performance of employees, which later develops/creates stress among employees. There are many types of work environments that have shown relationships with experiencing stress at work. For example, workplace physical condition, workplace culture, poor training, providing incorrect information to a coworker, lack of equipment, lack of supplies, supervisor failing to give help, policies and procedures, conflicting work demands, staffing shortage, inadequate information technology, and excessive time spent in meetings. In addition, the interpersonal relationships of employees play a key role.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : Job conditions can vary across jobs, organizations, and industries. Has research found if there are any universal job conditions that relate to work stress?

MRI: You are absolutely right! Yes, we have found several universal job conditions. For example, job control (how much an employe controls his/her job), person-job fit (whether the employee is a good fit for the job), effort-reward imbalance (the imbalance between the effort one employee puts and the reward he/she receives), cognitive appraisals (evaluating a situation if it is stressful or not), and organizational constraints (work situations or conditions serve as hindrance to perform job tasks).

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : Because work stress is pervasive and seems to be increasing across jobs worldwide, how can employees and organizations deal with it? Are there any stress management interventions?

MRI: I agree. Not only is it pervasive, but also it has direct and indirect negative impacts on employee well-being, workplace outcomes, organizational effectiveness, and the ability of an organization to stay competitive in its own industry. Hence, it is no surprise that both employees and organizations need to know how to deal with it meaningfully, effectively, and successfully.

Usually, there are three stress management interventions that we recommend and practice. The primary stress management interventions are emotion focused (ignoring/not thinking of stressors) and problem focused (solving problems that are creating stress). The secondary stress management interventions are cognitive-behavioral therapy, relaxation, meditation, and multimodal (e.g., combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and relaxation, combination of relaxation and meditation, combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and meditation). Finally, the tertiary stress management interventions are organizational initiatives, for example, employee assistance programs, which are free and confidential.

Journalist Shahidujjaman Khan : Thank you so much for your valuable time! I have learned a lot and found how well my work life is related to this interview. I am sure that the readers will find it well connected to their work life, too.

MRI: You are welcome! Thank you so much for your kind words!


Naimul Alam Rinku is a
Business Promotion Officer 
of The Asian Age.