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How do you react to occupational stress? Which circumstances create the most or the least personal occupational stress? The Deloitte Greenhouse™ Experience team just released a survey that inquired into the levels of occupational stress. The results found that the types of stressors and the ways professionals deal with them greatly depend upon the type of person you are.
The Study’s Methodology
Deloitte invited 40,605 professionals to complete an online assessment. Participants included professionals:
- Inside and outside of Deloitte
- From more than 1,300 organizations
- From the US and 120 countries overall
They were asked general questions about occupational stress as well as questions that would determine which Business Chemistry type each participant fit into.
What is a Business Chemistry type? It is one of four categories in which respondents were placed depending upon the answers to questions involving their workplace traits, preferences, and behaviors.
We will examine types after revealing general stress-related findings.
Occupational Stress: Overall Findings
“How often do you experience stress?” was asked of more than 23,000 people.
Those who responded were divided into the following categories.
- Rarely: 15 percent
- Sometimes: 57 percent
- Often: 25 percent
- Almost always: three percent
When asked, “What types of situations or circumstances do you find stressful?” the respondents were relatively equally divided, except for one circumstance.
- Making an error: 82 percent
- A challenging workload: 52 percent
- Conflict: 52 percent
- Urgent projects or time pressure: 46 percent
- Presentation delivery or meeting new client: 45 percent
Coping with Occupational Stress
How did a second sample of more than 17,000 respondents self-report their methods of coping with stress?
- Attack it directly: 83 percent
- Cognitive strategies: 79 percent
- Gather additional information: 78 percent
- Talk to someone about the stressor: 47 percent
- Take time out: 46 percent
Business Chemistry Types
The Deloitte study developed a scientifically-based personality system. This system identified four business types based on behavior patterns. The purpose of the system is to offer insights about a certain type of person based on their behaviors in the workplace.
The four Business Chemistry types are defined as follows.
- The Pioneer:This type likes variety and generating new ideas. Most prevalent coping strategy: Cognitive strategies.
- The Driver: This type likes logic and systems. Most prevalent coping strategy: Attack stress directly.
- The Guardian: This type likes stability and details. Most prevalent coping strategy: Gather additional information.
- The Integrator:This type likes personal connections and the larger picture. Most prevalent coping strategy: Used multiple strategies, all to generally the same extent.
Under What Level of Occupational Stress Are You Most Effective
The second sample of more than 17,000 asked respondents to self-report the level of stress with which they perform most efficiently.
- The Pioneer: 59 percent of this type performs well moderately to very stressed
- The Driver: 61 percent of this type performs well moderately to very stressed
- The Guardian: 50 percent of this type performs well moderately to very stressed
- The Integrator: 51 percent of this type performs well moderately to very stressed
So What
This report has several benefits. First, it categorizes different types of stressors, different types of Business Chemistry types, and different methods of coping. This allows individuals under stress to not only understand that there are others like you, but the ability to seek them out and gain understanding and counsel when it comes to stress in the workplace.
Another thing this report does is allows another method for managers and leaders to identify additional characteristics and traits of those who report to them. Understanding how a certain report feels under different circumstances can help managers put their reports in the best position to succeed.
And lastly, stress reduces productivity and creates all types of negative health effects. Identifying how to relieve stress in different types of people is good for the company and good for the individual.
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