Stress is a normal part of everyday life in the workplace. Stress provides us with energy, motivation and challenges that can be healthy and rewarding experiences. Businesses large and small are continually under pressure to excel. Heightened internal and external competition and the pursuit of excellence can be positive "stressors" which motivate employees and employers to perform to their optimum capacity.

Yet too much stress can have a very negative impact on employees and employers alike. Fear of job redundancy, layoffs due to an uncertain economy, increased demands for overtime due to staff cutbacks act as negative stressors. Employees who start to feel the "pressure to perform" can get caught in a downward spiral of increasing effort to meet rising expectations with no increase in job satisfaction. The relentless requirement to work at optimum performance takes its toll in job dissatisfaction, employee turnover, reduced efficiency, illness and even death. Absenteeism, illness, alcoholism, "petty internal politics", bad or snap decisions, indifference and apathy, lack of motivation or creativity are all by-products of an over stressed workplace.

Chronic stress can interfere with sleep patterns as well as the ability to relax and its affect on an individual's metabolism can lead to a weakening of the immune system as the body is given less time to repair itself. This can lead to mental illness, stroke and heart attacks.

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