• Last updated:2021-10-18

Modern man faces a lot of pressures in his work, and job burnout has become a familiar health concern. A survey conducted recently by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), a unit of Taiwan s Council of Labor Affairs, indicates that this problem is most serious for females and young employees. The results of the survey also show that people who work more than 49 hours a week, who are laboring under heavy psychological burdens, or whose families have members needing care are at the highest risk of burnout. IOSH urges workers to test their level of job stress regularly so that they can take steps to prevent burnout. The institute has updated the Internet version of its Simple Job Stress Sheet; workers and company managers can fill out the sheet online (currently available in Chinese only) and get an immediate response, completely free of charge. Corporate managers who want to gain an understanding of the work stress in their organizations can contact the persons in charge at IOSH (by e-mailing iosh-med@mail.iosh.gov.tw) to set up an exclusive account and password.


The survey reveals that the prevalence of frequent feelings of heavy work stress is rising year by year. The percentage of employees feeling heavy work stress rose from 7.6% for men and 6.5% for women in 1994 to 13.8% from men and 13.5% for women in 2001, and further to 18.9% for both men and women in 2005. White-collar workers feel work pressures more intensely than their blue-collar compatriots, and for ranking managers the ratio of those feeling high levels of stress either continuously or frequently soars to 40.3%.

The amount of perceived work pressure is not related very closely to seniority on the job, but has a definite relationship to age, education, and size of company. The highest ratio of those who frequently or constantly feel very heavy work stress is found among employees aged 30-35, and the ratio increases with level of education and number of employees in the company.


The word burnout implies physical and mental exhaustion in reaction to high levels of psychological stress over the long term. The causes and symptoms of the condition are complex. 

If more than the simple online job-stress test is required, another stress sheet containing 99 test items is available to assess the sources and amount of stress within an organization in greater detail. The Technical Manual for the Assessment of Job Stress among Laborers (currently available in Chinese only), explains how to utilize this stress sheet. 

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• Publication Date:2006-05-15
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