When the boss doesn’t want to hear about your stress

Employees who struggle with stress on the job will often get help from mental health and stress management resources provided by their employers.

But a new study from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business finds that when stress causes an employee to become disengaged from their work and their performance suffers, managers are less likely to provide the resources that might help.

The study, “Under Pressure: Employee Work Stress, Supervisory Mentoring Support, and Employee Career Success” was published in the journal Personnel Psychology.

Emily Campion, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship and study co-author, said there comes a point where a manager may perceive that their stressed-out worker requires more resources and attention than their productivity warrants, so managers are less likely to provide the resources needed to help.

“Managers have only so many resources at their disposal and if they spend too many resources on a single person, they can’t spend as many resources on other employees,” said Campion.

The researchers gathered data by asking a series of survey questions to more than 500 employees and managers in the U.S., U.K., and Hong Kong, asking about employee stress and manager responses to that stress. Campion said they found some evidence that “broadcasting your stress can actually repel support.”

That lack of support leads to a downward spiral, where the employee becomes further disengaged, which adds more stress, and so on. Ultimately, this leads to lower career satisfaction and promotability ratings, and fewer promotions, adding even more stress.

She said managers can step in early by providing stress management resources, which is easier when the worker has not yet disengaged. Eventually, though, they simply don’t have the resources.

What should employees do when they’re struggling with stress? Campion cautions the findings are not a reason for employees to hide their stress. Instead, she said employees should alert managers as soon as they’re starting to feel stress, before it leads to disengagement and reduced performance.

If the stress is about a certain task, that should be communicated to the manager. Though not explicitly addressed in the study, Campion suggests that broad feelings of stress may be perceived by managers as a more abstract problem rather than something that is identifiable and solvable, but can still be addressed with support services such as employee assistance programs (EAP). Campion said most employers encourage employees to use them and that they should not be viewed as just being there for public relations or recruiting purposes.

At the same time, she said employers should not be quick to blame employees. Managers should take their employees’ claims of stress seriously and identify stressed employees early before they become disengaged.