Do managers experience more stress than employees? Results from
the Intervention Project on Absence and Well-being (IPAW) study among Danish
managers and their employees
Affiliations: Institute of Psychology, University of Copenhagen,
Copenhagen, Denmark | Task-Consult, Østre Alle Gilleleje. Denmark | Institut of Public Health, Øster Farimagsgade
København K, Denmark | International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS),
Stavanger, Norway
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Janne Skakon, Institute of
Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Tel.: +45 2298 3737;
E-mail: janne@janneskakon.dk
Abstract: Objective: To examine whether managers' perceived stress and work
strain is higher than perceived stress and work strain among employees. Methods and Participants: The study is based on questionnaire responses from
2052 respondents (128 managers and 1924 employees) at 48 worksites. Bi-variate
and multivariate analyses were used to explain possible differences in stress
levels and related mediators. Results: Managers experienced higher
demands, higher level of conflicts, and lower degree of social support from
peers. They tended to experience significantly lower emotional stress, whereas
this trend was insignificant with regards to behavioural, somatic and cognitive
stress. The difference was partly explained by higher scores in the
psychosocial work environment factors; job satisfaction, perceived management
quality from their managers, influence, degrees of freedom at work,
possibilities for development and meaning of work. For behavioural stress,
41% of the difference was explained by the preventive factors, 20% for
somatic stress, 39% for emotional stress and 56% for cognitive stress. Conclusions: This study indicates that the preventive psychosocial
factors explain parts of the managers' lower stress level. These results
contradict the lay perception of managers being under higher pressure and
experiencing more stress than employees. Interventions aiming at reducing
employee stress levels, especially regarding behavioural and cognitive stress,
could benefit from focussing on psychosocial work environment exposures such as
skill discretion, meaning of work, psychological demands, information flow and
management quality.
Keywords: Work related stress, psychosocial factors, leader, employee, prospective
