The Real Cost Of High Stress Jobs

Your Health And Your Job

Many employers across American provide health insurance to their employees as both a gesture of appreciation and a way to

keep employees as healthy (and productive) as possible. Health insurance is becoming more and more important as laws

are passed requiring more of us to have it, but up until just recently, there was a surprising lack of data on how a high-stress

job can affect your health as a whole.

With so many employers offering insurance, it’s time that we take a look at the overall costs of that insurance as well as the cost of those who don’t have insurance – and those who are more or less killed by employment-related stress factors.

Insurance Costs For Employees

Stress Inducing Factors In The Work Place

Work can kill you, especially if your job has stressors like unrealistic demands, volatile management, and fear of unemployment. These stress-inducing factors (and more, listed below) can manifest themselves in a variety of different illnesses and disorders from heart disease to mental illness and alcoholism.

Stress And Life Insurance?

Even with these established causes and effects, little information had been gathered in the United States to measure the actual impact of these stressors until just recently. Not only can stress take a toll on you physically, but it may be responsible for a life insurance cash-in down the road.

Where Can I Find More Information?

In determining the real impact of stressors and their effects, some of the most common sources of stress were:

• Long work hours• Job insecurity• Lack of control

• Feeling of unfairness• Work-family conflicts

• Lack of health insurance• Loss of employment

Death Toll Of Workplace Stress

The death toll of workplace stress was estimated to realistically be in the neighborhood of 120,000 deaths per year due to a combination of stress-related medical issues, a lack of health insurance, and high work demands.

Unemployment and Stress-Related Deaths

Just those without insurance were estimated to account for nearly 50,000 of the estimated deaths, meaning that they died from stress-related issues that could’ve been addressed by health insurance. Unemployment is seemingly responsible for 34,000 while job insecurity and high work demands account for the remaining 30,000 deaths.

The Cost Of Stress-Related Deaths

So, how much does this cost in cold, hard cash? Upwards of $125 billion every year, and possibly as much as $190 billion or more. Costs like that would account for 5 to 8 percent of national health care expenditure, even in a world that now offers free government health insurance.

What's The Highest Contributing Factor Of Workplace Stress?

The highest contributing factor here was unrealistic workplace expectations, so it brings up the issue of what employers can do to combat these deaths.

What Do You Think?

How do you think employers could combat workplace stress on a day-to-day level? Have you suffered the adverse effects of work-related stress? Let us know in the comments section below!

For more information on Health Insurance, or where to find a Freeway Insurance location please call 1-877-380-0705 or visit www.freewayinsurance.com.