Wellness

Do you know your workplace hazards?

Workplace hazards go far beyond the physical space. Recognize areas that can cause stress in team members so you can brainstorm solutions.

It’s no surprise that mental health symptoms increased during COVID, especially with an economic downturn, political and social conflict, and other stressors. But did you realize that there may be workplace hazards lurking in plain sight that cause you — and your direct reports, if you’re a manager — undue stress? Cathy Nugent, a licensed clinical professional counselor who conducted a VSCPA roundtable on stress hardiness last February, revealed these stressrelated workplace hazards. Want more resources like this? Visit vscpa.com/wellness. n

Job content

• Monotonous, under-stimulating, meaningless tasks • Lack of variety • Unpleasant or aversive tasks • Workload and work pace • Having too much or too little to do • Working under time pressures

Participation and control • Lack of participation in decision-making • Lack of control (such as over work methods, work pace, working hours and the work environment)

Role in the organization

• Unclear role • Conflicting roles within the same job responsibility for people • Continuously dealing with other people and their problems

Organization culture • Poor communication • Poor leadership • Lack of clarity about organizational objectives and structure Working hours • Strict and inflexible working schedules • Long hours • Unpredictable working hours • Badly designed shift systems

Career development, status & pay • Job insecurity • Lack of promotion prospects • Under-promotion or over-promotion • Work of “low social value” • Piece-rate payment schemes • Unclear or unfair performance evaluation systems • Being over-skilled or under-skilled for the job

Interpersonal relationships • Inadequate, inconsiderate or unsupportive supervision • Poor relationships with co-workers • Bullying, harassment and violence • Isolated or solitary work • No agreed procedures for dealing with problems or complaints

Home-work interface • Conflicting demands of work and home • Lack of support for domestic problems at work • Lack of support for work problems at home

FIND VSCPA ethics courses

AT CPAETHICS.COM

In-house Webcast On-demand

We all like a little variety in our lives, so why wouldn’t we want the same variety when choosing our required ethics course? The VSCPA has you covered with a Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA)-approved roster of ethics courses based on practice areas and other hot topics, all written by expert state, national and international authors.

We’re proud to have produced high-quality, engaging ethics courses for the past 15+ years, and this year you can look forward to even more offerings to choose from. The VSCPA promises to deliver fresh content to keep you on the pulse of the profession while also satisfying your two-hour ethics CPE requirement. Options include: