Stress in the workplace represents a tremendous liability to employers, costing U.S. businesses more than $300 billion a year in lost productivity, higher healthcare costs and more. It plays a major role in absenteeism, employee turnover, substance abuse, accidents, workers compensation costs and lawsuits.

While it may be impossible to eliminate stress from the workplace, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says employers can help reduce it by focusing on several factors, including the design of tasks, management style, interpersonal relationships, work roles, career concerns and environmental conditions.

NIOSH advises that employer actions to reduce job stress should give top priority to organizational change to improve working conditions. However, since even the most conscientious efforts in this area are unlikely to eliminate stress for all workers, they should be combined with stress-management training and an employee assistance program.

For more information, download NIOSH’s “Stress at Work” pamphlet at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/stress.pdf.