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What are the most stressful jobs?

• The health and community services sector is the most stressed in Australia.
• That’s nurses, doctors, charity workers, carers and the like.
• Following the health and community services sector, people working in the education industry are the next most stressed
• Then personal and other services, which includes religious services, public order jobs, interest groups, as well as the hire sector coming third.

What about for men and women?

• Breaking down gender, the most stressful jobs for women are nursing and carers work, followed by labour intensive jobs and then other health professionals. 
• For men it’s labour related work, followed by men who work in trades and then transport workers.

What about cost?

• The cost of stress related claims are as much as three times higher than the median claim.
• The median compensation payment for Australians is $6,100.  But for mental stress it is $15,500.
• A similar result can be found when comparing the median time off work for all claims and for mental stress claims.
• The median for time off work on workers compensation is 4.1 weeks. 
• When the claim is stress related however, it climbs to 10.9, again almost triple.

Why are these claims more costly?

• We don’t fully know why these claims are more costly, we need to do more research into this area.
• Lifeline is calling on all Australians to manage their own stress levels before they become unhealthy.
• We all have a role to play in preventing unhealthy stress in our lives.

Why are these jobs more stressful?

• High level stress industries can sometimes be due to resourced issues.
• Again, we need more research in this area.
• At Lifeline we take an immense amount of calls and rely on the generosity of our volunteer and the community to continue to provide our services.

Where does this come from?

The information comes from workers’ compensation statistics from Safe Work Australia.
 

Stress related information

What is stress?

Stress is the body’s way of dealing with pressure.  In a lot of circumstances, stress can actually help you keep going during these high pressures times.  It’s when stress is extreme or prolonged that it can become a problem.

What sort of problems are we talking about?

High levels or prolonged stress can have a serious impact on both your mental and physical health.

What effects are we talking here?

Effects can be anything from anxiety and depression to increased blood pressure and heart disease.

How do we know if someone around us is experiencing stress?

Some signs to look for are mood swings, frustration and irritability, sleeping problems, headaches, anxiety and an increase in alcohol or substance use.

So what can people do about stress?

There are a number of ways to combat stress in our lives.

• Firstly it’s important to acknowledge stress, to realise that we are under a lot of pressure and that it is affecting us in a bad way.
• Next thing to do is to be honest about what you can control and what you can’t.  Be realistic about you own expectations and about your situation, and never under estimate the value of a good nights sleep.
• More long term, connect with someone who cares, a friend or family member you trust, or a counselling service like Lifeline.
• Have a health assessment with your GP.
• Have a look at your diet, the food we eat can make a big difference to how we feel.
• Take up regular exercise and do more activities that you enjoy. But remember, drugs and alcohol are not the best option for winding down.

Stress Down Day Events

So tell us about stress down day?

• We are asking people to wear their slippers, and have a bit of fun (on the 24th of July).
• And while they do it, we are hoping they will help us raise a bit of money towards keeping our 24 hour telephone counselling service operating.
• At Lifeline, we really care about helping people reduce their stress and live healthier and happier lives.
• For more information people can visit  www.stressdown.org.au or SMS ‘Stress Down’ to 0 4 5 8 4 RELAX (standard SMS rates apply).

Lifeline related

What does Lifeline do?

Basically, Lifeline connects people with care:

• At Lifeline we receive a new call from someone seeking support for an emotional crisis, every minute of every day.
• So that means that Lifeline talks to over 35,000 people every month.
• As an organisation we are focussed on improving the emotional health and wellbeing of all Australians.

Please donate to Lifeline Sydney and Sutherland.

Penny Mayson
penny.mayson@wesleymission.org.au