• Mei Yong, Michael Nasterlack, Rolf-Peter Pluto, Stefan Lang, and Christoph Oberlinner.
• Occupational Medicine and Health Protection Department, BASF Societas Europaea, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
• Work. 2013 Jan 1;46(3):347-54.

ObjectiveTo examine perceived stress across employees with different occupational status, to investigate the impact of stress on work ability and to derive conclusions regarding health promotion activities.Participants And MethodsA comprehensive survey combining questionnaire and medical examination was offered in one division in BASF Ludwigshafen. Among 867 voluntary participants, 653 returned complete questionnaires. The questions were directed at perception of safety at the workplace, self-rated health status, frequency of stress symptoms, unrealistic job demands, time pressure and maladjustment of work life balance. The outcome of interest was self-estimated health measured by the Work Ability Index (WAI).ResultsOccupational stressors were perceived differently across occupational status groups. Frontline operators had more health concerns due to workplace conditions, while professional and managerial staff reported higher frequencies of perceived tension, time pressure, and maladjustment of work life balance. After adjustment for occupational status, demographic and lifestyle factors, perceived stress was associated with a modest to strong decline in WAI scores.ConclusionWhile perceived occupational stress had an apparent impact on WAI, and WAI has been demonstrated to be predictive of early retirement, more intensive and employee group-specific stress management interventions are being implemented beyond traditional strategies of routine occupational medical surveillance.

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