Examining stress reactions in the world of work in the 21st century

Chapter Five provides insights into stress factors pertaining to workers in "the spirit of the age," namely, the dimension of time, an aspect often overlooked in models of workplace stress. Stress at work, a function of job demands and resources, is related primarily to job insecurity (partial or complete), considerations of objective and subjective aspects of temporal perception, and opportunities for respite (recovery from work-related stress). Notably, person-in-context across time varies between generations, different age groups, and cohorts, both on the inter-group level and across individuals. Indeed, individuals vary in (1) their levels of knowledge, skills, attitudes, expectations, and value systems, (2) the quality of cognitive and emotive responses to work stress, (3) subjective and objective notions of time, (4) the extent to which their anxieties are related to past, present, and future perceptions of job security, and (5) levels of stress during their daily routines on the job. Within any specific work characteristic, attention should be focused on the worker's resources (a) to maintain autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and (b) to cope with the negative impact of attempts to thwart these needs. Current investigations indicate that the time dimensions of stress constitute a fruitful research area, the outcomes of which will enhance workers' well-being to the benefit of workers and organizations alike.