The highs and lows of occupational stress intervention research: Lessons learnt from collaborations with high-risk industries

Abstract

Our research over the last 15 years has focused on addressing the rising costs of occupational stress commonly experienced by “high risk” workers. We have developed and implemented a number of organizational interventions within large, public sector organizations. Some of these organizational interventions have been very successful, reducing employee stress and increasing levels of work engagement and job performance, and some have produced less demonstrable results, especially in the long-term. In this chapter we discuss the 17 key lessons we have leant from our organizational stress management intervention research. Some lessons are simple (e.g., the necessity of including both individual-level and organizational- level strategies for change) whilst other lessons are rarely considered in current scholarly discussions (e.g., the diffusion of intervention effects). We identify these 17 key issues and recommend solutions to assist and inspire future occupational stress researchers to actively advance this often stagnant fi eld of research.