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Example research essay topic: Job Related Stress Health Care Costs - 2,089 words

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... et al. (2000) that interviewed six large United States corporations and embraced 46, 026 respondents, stress and stress factors make up the highest percentage of health insurance expenditures, namely, $ 6. 2 billion accounting for 7. 9 percent of all health costs. Moreover, despite the fact that employees absenteeism at the workplace due to stress and mental health problems is mostly addressed in group wage-loss indemnity plans (Paoli, 1997), the economic influence of stress-related problems finds its reflection in the consistently increasing number of claims submitted by employees to Workers Compensation Commissions. According to a number of researches, the overall number of claims accepted as workplace injuries related to psychological factors, including burnouts, stresses, strains and other psychological disorders, has almost doubled within the past few years (Paoli, 1997).

At the same time, the amount of payouts due to stress and mental health problems has also experienced a significant increase. The information provided above proves the influence of stress and stress-related problems on business companies and organizations. The companies should place more emphasis on stress at workplace, whether it is due to expenditures that result from employees claims or due to increased costs related to the employees disability. It becomes quite problematic to provide a reliable estimation of the extent to which these stress-related expenditures affects organizations, due to inadequate and insufficient information related to this subject. Nevertheless, more and more researchers place high emphasis on stress and stress-related factors in the capacity of the phenomenon having destructive and negative impact on the organizations in general and the employees and employers in particular. Nowadays, more and more human resources advisors, occupational health and safety professionals, occupational health physicians, and managers undertake all possible efforts to cut corporate costs related to stress and stress factors.

Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to increase awareness about stress and its influence on health care costs, as well as to provide organizations with effective tools enabling them to adequately and effectively measure the financial impact of workplace-related stresses and strains, assisting them in their efforts to cut health care costs, when possible. A more serious approach to stress management would obviously have a significant influence on management decisions within the organizations, thus reducing the levels of stress at the workplace and reducing health care costs. Therefore, if stress is a significant factor in increased health care costs, then employers can lower costs by minimizing job-related stress. The objective of this study is to answer the question: Do employer-controlled factors, primarily job-related stress, make any difference in health care costs? Research Question and Sub Questions The main research question for this project is: Do employer-controlled factors, primarily job-related stress, make any difference in health care costs? To answer this question, the following four sub-questions will be addressed: Q 1.

What is the link between job-related stress and employee performance? Q 2. Does life-style related factors contribute to job related stress? Q 3. Can improving company wellness programs lower health care costs and give the company a return on their investment? Q 4.

What is the return of investment for the company if they make these improvements? Significance of the Study In light of the current economic crisis and the stimulus package that is currently moving to the House of Representatives, this study is important to employers who offer healthcare or who do not offer healthcare at this time. President Obama will be redefining healthcare during his administration and this study could be an important aspect of how employers decide on healthcare cost. If it is found that healthcare costs can be lowered because of changes to company wellness programs that reduce stress it could bring significant changes for some companies. Research Design and Methodology To review the overall magnitude of this problem, the researcher will analyze studies of healthcare costs, and employee absenteeism to compare the effects of employer controlled factors, explore the relationship between job-related stress and overall stress, specify how these findings can be used to improve company wellness programs and lower health care costs, and estimate the return-on-investment of these improvements. In addition, to provide better results, two major research methodologies will be used: a comprehensive and systematic review of scientific literature and individual interviews and focus groups with experts.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY This researcher will use a qualitative study that is not a scientific design. A case study will be designed that shows the effects of workplace stress on both the worker and the workplace. Qualitative research is appropriate for this study because it examines human behavior in the context of how people behave within a given social and cultural environment (Sucking, 2003, p. 13). The workplace is an environment that is both social and political so the way that people behave under stress going to change their behavior.

One of the best ways to study this is through a focus group. The case study will be based on the literature that the researcher can find and information will be gathered from company websites, job search websites, the Internet and the library. The literature review will include the most important documents to provide the researcher with a comprehensive picture of knowledge of expenditures related to stress and strains at the workplace. Scientific articles were taken from online libraries and scientific databases, such as Pubmed, Questia, JSTOR, MEDLINE (through PubMed), Emerald, and others for the general period between 1990 and 2008.

The strategy utilized during bibliographic search was based on an extensive list of keywords. When the computerized databases allowed, phrases and word combinations were used as a search string to provide the most accurate results. The keyword used included but were not limited to labor costs, costs, health care costs, stress, stress risks, safety and cost, absenteeism and cost, stress psychological and cost and occupational diseases, absenteeism and labor costs, stress and labor costs, to mention a few. By using such an extensive list, the references that were most relevant to research topic, were identified. High-quality reliable scientific publications were preferred to select the most relevant and reliable sources for the present research. The scientific quality of the articles and books used was estimated by the number of citations published by the scientific journal and other relevant information available.

Database search was used as it is obviously the most effective way to find reliable scientific sources relevant to the subject. The methodology for the field research can be divided into few parts: individual interviews and focus groups. The main objective was to create a list of cost indicators to be taken into consideration while evaluating the costs of workplace related stresses and strains within the organizations. During this step, the table (Table 1) was compiled before the preliminary focus group meeting. The table included few cost indicators taken from the scientific literature and the researchers thoughts on the subject.

The table then was presented to the interviewed individuals and the participants were asked to comment on the items and to add any information they considered important. Table 1: The Table Presented to Interviewed Individuals during Focus Group Meetings Costs of Absence at Workplace Costs of Presence at Workplace Costs Considered to be Common to Both Presence and Absence at Workplace Any kind of costs that can be related to claims due to employees inability to work Any kind of costs of absences associated with family-and-work balance Any kind of costs that can be related to employee turnover (costs associated with hiring, overtime, training costs, costs for temporary workers, to mention a few) Costs associated with any kinds of compensation-related claims Costs related to any kind of errors in action and / or judgment EAP related costs (employee assistance program) Costs associated with sick leaves or employees absenteeism caused by illnesses that can be stressed related, such as cardiovascular diseases, etc. Any kind of costs associated with interpersonal problems and/ or conflicts within the organization Lost productivity related expenditures; substance abuse related costs The expenditures when the company needs to replace absent employee at his/ her workplace Any kind of costs associated with stress related accidents at the workplace Grievances related costs, costs associated with workplace meetings and/ or management meetings, costs related to occupational health department (external or internal), legal proceedings costs, etc. During focus group meetings the participants were asked to complement to cost indicators, discussing what should be taken into consideration while evaluating the costs related to stresses and strains at the workplace. From this information and the review of the literature a proposal will be created for how wellness programs may be changed to accommodate employees in stress release. LIMITATIONS OF STUDY Some people may criticize the case study method because they feel it does not establish reliability for its findings.

In the case of this research it will act as a preliminary point of information to gather the information for the research questions. It can also be a way for others to do further research. A challenge may be that the intensity of the focus in one area may not give an opportunity to look at other areas that may be important. In this study it is important to establish a method of understanding the variety of information that can be gathered for this topic and then to be able to formulate an idea of how it could be used later. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction A review of the literature included an Internet search and search in scientific databases for the terms "workplace stress, "workplace wellness", "workplace wellness reform, " absenteeism, labor costs, stress, "workplace stress" and other keywords, as it was mentioned before. All of these search terms brought forth information about workplace stress.

A review of the literature was future taken into the research databases of ProQuest, EbscoHost, and others. All professional databases had plenty of information about workplace stress and there has been a lot of research on what will work and what has not worked. The literature is categorized in several ways. There is literature that talks about specific strategies like the use of massage therapy in the workplace, stress relief modalities and how to survive in the workplace when you are under stress.

There were articles about specific groups that included nurses, women and students. There was other literature that looked at mental health issues that happen in the workplace because of stress. When the keywords, "workplace stress and healthcare costs" were used there was no literature on the subject in the databases. When using "workplace stress and healthcare" the majority of the literature was geared towards nursing and the stresses on healthcare workers. It is clear to this researcher that other research has concentrated on how to alleviate stress for workers within the workplace instead of concentrating on healthcare costs. This could be a sign that the issue of healthcare costs in the workplace is a more recent situation than it was in the past.

Perhaps the fact that the economy is changing in the United States and President Obama is looking at healthcare alternatives is one reason why the issue of healthcare costs is at the forefront of the news; the majority of information about the rising healthcare costs were found in the general news and in government publications. WORKPLACE STRESS DEFINED There seemed to be several definitions for workplace stress depending on where one looked. This researcher first looked in online dictionaries to find a definition which was difficult because everyone seems to have a different idea of what workplace stress is and how it works. Some people define it simply as "burnout" while others have a more elaborate way of defining it. Wikipedia says that workplace stress is: is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. This is a good working definition for what was found in the literature.

However, it seems more appropriate to examine other definitions of workplace stress. For example, from a transactional point of view, workplace stress is an outcome of the transaction between the individual and environment. In its turn, when the person is exposed to stress conditions, he or she is exposed to psychosocial or physical conditions the person interprets as negative (Aldwin, 1994). Therefore, stress at the workplace, or negative psychological, behavioral or physical consequences, take place when the person perceives that demands of the work significantly exceeds the persons ability (Aldwin, 1994). According to this perspective, stress is a factor that is not present at the persons environmen


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Research essay sample on Job Related Stress Health Care Costs

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