Emotional Over-Investment: The Leading Cause of Workplace Stress
25 June 2012
Read by 1541 persons
The Institute of NeuroCognitivism recently presented the results of its study conducted in five European countries and Canada.
The CGEM recently hosted the first conference: "Well-being at work and sustainable performance: a shared responsibility." A meeting organized by the Institute of NeuroCognitivism (ICN) to announce the results of the study on workplace stress (ESTIME-2011), conducted by the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IME), in partnership with the ICN, with more than 7,000 respondents in five countries and regions (France, Dutch-speaking and French-speaking Belgium, Switzerland, and Quebec).
"ESTIME is the result of 25 years of research and an interdisciplinary scientific model, ranging from neuroscience to organizational sciences. Its in-depth questionnaire analyzes morale and stress at work according to the three dimensions of the individual, management, and the organization," explains Chantal Vander Vorst, Managing Director of ICN. She adds: "Beyond the descriptive elements at the heart of most surveys, this study above all provides answers regarding the explanatory factors of stress and morale at work, essential to enable leaders and managers to provide efficient and lasting solutions." Employee morale was studied according to three essential points: Professional satisfaction and fulfillment, sleep and health degradation, and psychological exhaustion and workplace stress. The first point reveals that 74% of the employees surveyed say they are satisfied with their work, and 57% find that they are fulfilled in their work. The primary reason for employee fulfillment is the sense of purpose at work. Indeed, 79% believe that their work gives them "meaning."
Regarding the second point, the study revealed that one in three employees reports that their sleep is disturbed due to work, and one in four believe that their work degrades their health. This is explained by several reasons: Emotional over-investment at work (41%), performing annoying or socially embarrassing tasks (29%), in addition to pressure from hierarchy to silence problems (20%).
Finally, 29% of employees state that their work exhausts them psychologically, and 27% believe that their work stresses them. Here again, it is emotional over-investment and the discrepancy from their core function (40%), as well as poor information flow (27%), that best explain why employees consider their work stressful.
"The main lessons we can draw from this study is that 74% of the employees surveyed say they are satisfied with their work; however, about 1 in 3 suffers from stress, psychological exhaustion, and/or sleep disturbance because of their work," concludes Vander Vorst. Before emphasizing: "The number one factor of stress, exhaustion, and disturbance is emotional over-investment at work, affecting 41% of employees; next comes demotivation linked to a lack of results and recognition, which affects 1 in 4 employees; the non-"biocompatible" organization which also impacts 1 in 4 employees; and finally, the last factors are the lack of teamwork, as well as inappropriate managerial communication, which concern 22% of employees." To address these difficulties and stressors, the ICN proposes some social and organizational actions. These are three essential actions: managing motivation (identifying and promoting sustainable motivation, consolidating conditional motivation, detecting and supporting emotional over-investment attitudes at work); developing a "biocompatible" organization, in addition to training managers in "Adaptive Intelligence" and supporting them. Indeed, according to the study conducted by the ICN, although they are not at the forefront of the causes of stress, managers occupy a strategic position to defuse risky situations, but also to reveal and develop potential, talents, etc.
Carried out at the end of 2011 on a representative sample of the working population in each of the five aforementioned countries and regions, ESTIME is a multinational study on workplace stress and employee morale, which was conducted with the aim of meeting a threefold objective: to provide a very precise overview (descriptive analysis); to highlight psychosocial risk factors and levers for social and organizational performance (explanatory analysis); and finally, to provide a predictive vision of the evolution of the situation (predictive analysis).
Three questions to: Mustapha Nait Cheikh, INC Morocco Development Director
"The brain is a muscle that needs exercise to reach its full potential"
Matin Emploi: The study deals with morale and stress levels in foreign countries; what about Moroccan employees?
Mustapha Nait Cheikh: Being present in Morocco for a little over a year, we aim to also conduct this study within Moroccan territory. We hope to be able to do so during the next international study of our institute planned for 2013.
What are the recommendations that can be drawn from ESTIME 2011? Can they be applied to the Moroccan market?
After analyzing the results of ESTIME, it is important to remember that the key recommendations for revealing the potential vitality of companies are: teaching managers to manage motivation and commitment sustainably; promoting the development of managers' and their teams' "Adaptive Intelligence," in other words, the more conscious and voluntary mobilization of the prefrontal part of our brain, which allows us to be more innovative, creative, adaptable, and... serene; and putting in place new governance for a "biocompatible" organization with human functioning, including defining the degree of employee autonomy, good information flow, and a match between the position and the actual work. It must be remembered that this is an international survey. There are of course specificities per population, but it seems that the trends are the same in different countries. We could therefore say that these results should interest Moroccan managers who are certainly facing the same difficulties and challenges.
Can you tell us more about the principle of Adaptive Intelligence?
Adaptive intelligence is that state of mind that we have when we feel serene even in unfamiliar and complicated situations. It is a part of our brain potential that allows us to take a step back, be curious, think logically, be relative, nuanced, and have a personal opinion. For example, in our profession, we have the objective of launching a new product on the market; we can do this automatically, as we usually do, or call upon our adaptive intelligence which promotes innovation, complexity management, uncertainty, and also stress management. Adaptive intelligence is present in each of us; it is simply more active when we let it express itself and work on it. The brain is a muscle that needs exercise to reach its full potential.
FOCUS
More than 7,000 respondents
Several thousand employees in Europe and Canada answered the 100 questions of the study. There were 1,001 in Dutch-speaking Belgium, 1,000 in French-speaking Belgium, 1,000 in Switzerland, 1,000 in Quebec, and 3,024 in France.
Stress has 4 facets
The study is based on an approach developed by the IME and which distinguishes four facets of stress: individual receptivity to stressors, emotional stress (anxiety, anger, or depression), somatic stress (impact on individuals' health), and behavioral stress (compensation by snacking, consumption of sedatives or stimulants...).
Hafsa Sakhi
Lematin.ma
Published June 24, 2012.
Posted online June 25, 2012.
The CGEM recently hosted the first conference: "Well-being at work and sustainable performance: a shared responsibility." A meeting organized by the Institute of NeuroCognitivism (ICN) to announce the results of the study on workplace stress (ESTIME-2011), conducted by the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IME), in partnership with the ICN, with more than 7,000 respondents in five countries and regions (France, Dutch-speaking and French-speaking Belgium, Switzerland, and Quebec).
"ESTIME is the result of 25 years of research and an interdisciplinary scientific model, ranging from neuroscience to organizational sciences. Its in-depth questionnaire analyzes morale and stress at work according to the three dimensions of the individual, management, and the organization," explains Chantal Vander Vorst, Managing Director of ICN. She adds: "Beyond the descriptive elements at the heart of most surveys, this study above all provides answers regarding the explanatory factors of stress and morale at work, essential to enable leaders and managers to provide efficient and lasting solutions." Employee morale was studied according to three essential points: Professional satisfaction and fulfillment, sleep and health degradation, and psychological exhaustion and workplace stress. The first point reveals that 74% of the employees surveyed say they are satisfied with their work, and 57% find that they are fulfilled in their work. The primary reason for employee fulfillment is the sense of purpose at work. Indeed, 79% believe that their work gives them "meaning."
Regarding the second point, the study revealed that one in three employees reports that their sleep is disturbed due to work, and one in four believe that their work degrades their health. This is explained by several reasons: Emotional over-investment at work (41%), performing annoying or socially embarrassing tasks (29%), in addition to pressure from hierarchy to silence problems (20%).
Finally, 29% of employees state that their work exhausts them psychologically, and 27% believe that their work stresses them. Here again, it is emotional over-investment and the discrepancy from their core function (40%), as well as poor information flow (27%), that best explain why employees consider their work stressful.
"The main lessons we can draw from this study is that 74% of the employees surveyed say they are satisfied with their work; however, about 1 in 3 suffers from stress, psychological exhaustion, and/or sleep disturbance because of their work," concludes Vander Vorst. Before emphasizing: "The number one factor of stress, exhaustion, and disturbance is emotional over-investment at work, affecting 41% of employees; next comes demotivation linked to a lack of results and recognition, which affects 1 in 4 employees; the non-"biocompatible" organization which also impacts 1 in 4 employees; and finally, the last factors are the lack of teamwork, as well as inappropriate managerial communication, which concern 22% of employees." To address these difficulties and stressors, the ICN proposes some social and organizational actions. These are three essential actions: managing motivation (identifying and promoting sustainable motivation, consolidating conditional motivation, detecting and supporting emotional over-investment attitudes at work); developing a "biocompatible" organization, in addition to training managers in "Adaptive Intelligence" and supporting them. Indeed, according to the study conducted by the ICN, although they are not at the forefront of the causes of stress, managers occupy a strategic position to defuse risky situations, but also to reveal and develop potential, talents, etc.
Carried out at the end of 2011 on a representative sample of the working population in each of the five aforementioned countries and regions, ESTIME is a multinational study on workplace stress and employee morale, which was conducted with the aim of meeting a threefold objective: to provide a very precise overview (descriptive analysis); to highlight psychosocial risk factors and levers for social and organizational performance (explanatory analysis); and finally, to provide a predictive vision of the evolution of the situation (predictive analysis).
Three questions to: Mustapha Nait Cheikh, INC Morocco Development Director
"The brain is a muscle that needs exercise to reach its full potential"
Matin Emploi: The study deals with morale and stress levels in foreign countries; what about Moroccan employees?
Mustapha Nait Cheikh: Being present in Morocco for a little over a year, we aim to also conduct this study within Moroccan territory. We hope to be able to do so during the next international study of our institute planned for 2013.
What are the recommendations that can be drawn from ESTIME 2011? Can they be applied to the Moroccan market?
After analyzing the results of ESTIME, it is important to remember that the key recommendations for revealing the potential vitality of companies are: teaching managers to manage motivation and commitment sustainably; promoting the development of managers' and their teams' "Adaptive Intelligence," in other words, the more conscious and voluntary mobilization of the prefrontal part of our brain, which allows us to be more innovative, creative, adaptable, and... serene; and putting in place new governance for a "biocompatible" organization with human functioning, including defining the degree of employee autonomy, good information flow, and a match between the position and the actual work. It must be remembered that this is an international survey. There are of course specificities per population, but it seems that the trends are the same in different countries. We could therefore say that these results should interest Moroccan managers who are certainly facing the same difficulties and challenges.
Can you tell us more about the principle of Adaptive Intelligence?
Adaptive intelligence is that state of mind that we have when we feel serene even in unfamiliar and complicated situations. It is a part of our brain potential that allows us to take a step back, be curious, think logically, be relative, nuanced, and have a personal opinion. For example, in our profession, we have the objective of launching a new product on the market; we can do this automatically, as we usually do, or call upon our adaptive intelligence which promotes innovation, complexity management, uncertainty, and also stress management. Adaptive intelligence is present in each of us; it is simply more active when we let it express itself and work on it. The brain is a muscle that needs exercise to reach its full potential.
FOCUS
More than 7,000 respondents
Several thousand employees in Europe and Canada answered the 100 questions of the study. There were 1,001 in Dutch-speaking Belgium, 1,000 in French-speaking Belgium, 1,000 in Switzerland, 1,000 in Quebec, and 3,024 in France.
Stress has 4 facets
The study is based on an approach developed by the IME and which distinguishes four facets of stress: individual receptivity to stressors, emotional stress (anxiety, anger, or depression), somatic stress (impact on individuals' health), and behavioral stress (compensation by snacking, consumption of sedatives or stimulants...).
Hafsa Sakhi
Lematin.ma
Published June 24, 2012.
Posted online June 25, 2012.
