How many of us would say we’ve experienced some level of stress in our professional lives? Probably all of us, right?

It’s crucial to understand however that not all stress is created equal. There are two main types of work-related stress and they are quite distinct – in both their causes and effects on us.

Let’s examine these two types in order to be able to recognize them in our lives.

Challenge Stress

This first kind of stress is often brought on by an increased workload, additional responsibility, or impending deadline. Challenge stress is just what the name implies – added pressure due to a challenge that must be overcome. The key is that these things are generally doable, and conquering these challenges leads to a sense of satisfaction, increased resilience, and greater productivity. When people say they ‘work well under pressure,’ this is that pressure.

Hindrance Stress

As the name suggests, this type of stress forms an obstacle to success. Hindrance stress involves ambiguity, red tape, vague expectations, and social challenges that make completing your work impossible. When there is no clear goal or job description, an employee can never know if they’re doing a good job or improving at anything, and the inability to get anything done leads to near-zero job satisfaction. Social difficulties like office politics and difficult coworkers further degrade the employee’s experience. Red tape can mean that all of their efforts were meaningless in the end, as there was never the possibility of succeeding.

Hindrance stress reduces productivity, teamwork, job satisfaction, resilience, and overall quality of life for the employee. All of this can easily lead to burnout.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---