Workplace Stress is Making Us Sick. Can We Hold Bosses Responsible?

I’ve known plenty of people in toxic work environments: unrelenting hours, capricious bosses, lack of control. And I’m sure you have, too.

Dysfunctional jobs can take an enormous toll on what you think of yourself, how you perform at work, and even how you behave when you’re (theoretically) disconnected.

But Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford School of Business, argues that work is exacting an even greater price than we realize. More than 100,000 Americans die each year from adverse workplace conditions, he says. And many more become sick.

I should note that these deaths and illnesses are over and above physical accidents, like being injured on a construction site or in a coal mine. It’s a much broader phenomenon ― encompassing office workers, as well as traditionally high-stress jobs like nurses and first responders. Pfeffer estimates that “workplace management” was, as of 2018, the fifth leading cause of death in the United States.

“I think we are on an unsustainable path. I think we were on an unsustainable path pre-pandemic. The pandemic’s made everything worse, and something’s got to give,” he says.

Read the full article by The Boston Globe below.