The Cost of Stress on Your Business [INFOGRAPHIC]

Most people know that stress can lead to serious health problems.  But some don’t realize that stress can have a negative impact on your job and also affect the bottom line of your company. Stress affects several bodily functions, and when you become overly stressed your brain gets washed with powerful hormones that can damage and even kill brain cells. Stress can negatively affect your productivity at work and lead to inefficiencies in your performance at work.

Job related stress has shown to cost U.S. companies an estimated $300 billion from employee turnover, absenteeism and loss of productivity — all as a result of stress in the workplace. There are several common reasons for stress in the workplace. Often times it has to do with salary, hours, pressure from bosses, heavy workloads and also work interfering with your personal life. And these are only a few of the common stressors in the workplace.

The infographic below outlines several key factors of stressors in the workplace along with solutions for avoiding it. Making some simple changes can help lower stress levels among employees and create a happy and more productive place to work.  Here are some of the more noteworthy data points:

• Work causes stress for over 83% of all Americans.
• 40% of all American workers say their productivity is affected because of stress.
• 1 million people are absent from work each day as a result of stress.
• 40% of employee turnover is directly related to stress.
• Stress reduces focus and memory by 25%.
• 14% of employees have felt like striking a co-worker in the past year because of stress.
• Common workplace stressors include: low pay, unrealistic job expectations, long hours, work interfering with personal/family time, lack of advancement options in the workplace, job insecurity and undefined job expectations among others.

Have you experienced stress factors like this your workplace?  If so, how did you deal with stressors that affected your performance on the job? Let us know in the comments below, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.