The Most and Least Stressful Jobs

There are many different jobs out there, and each comes with its own list of stresses.

Some jobs are more stressful than others due to a range of factors, and if you have a high stress job, it could be impacting your life. It happens more than you would think - that work stresses are causing issues with mental health and impacting you in sometimes irreparable ways. 

In this article, we will be looking at some of the most and least stressful jobs, as well as some other information surrounding these career paths and what you can do going forward. If you are interested in learning more about this, read on.

What Makes A Job Stressful?

Different things cause stress to different people. One person may find something overwhelmingly stressful, while others aren’t fazed too much. It depends on the person, but generally, what makes a job stressful will be having tough interactions with the public/clients, harsh physical and emotional demands of a job, risk to the life of the individual, and risk of the life to the other person. It’s a lot to take on a job with multiple factors like this, but they are also extremely rewarding, so people keep choosing to do them.

Most Stressful Jobs

This is not to say that every job is not stressful in its own way or that there will not be stressful days for everyone. But, some jobs cause more stress regularly and may require a little more intervention. For example, one of the most stressful jobs out there is working in the police force. There is so much expected from police officers; there are standards that need to be upheld, and there are a lot of different elements to the job, making it tough to handle for many people.

Some of the other most stressful jobs include:

• Social worker

• ER nurse

• Mental health counsellor

• Fire fighter

• Military personnel

• Emergency dispatcher

As you will notice, each of these jobs requires helping or protecting vulnerable people in some way, shape or form, which is a contributing factor to stress levels. While helping others is a noble profession and provides a strong sense of accomplishment, it certainly comes with a lot of stress.

Least Stressful Jobs

The next thing to look at is the least stressful jobs. Again, it’s important to reiterate here that every job will come with its own stresses and days that are worse than others. The difference between what has been termed the most minor and most stressful jobs are the levels of stress, the constantness of the stress, and the consequences if things go wrong. So, some of the least stressful jobs are as follows:

• Hairdresser

• Librarian

• Web developer

• Landscaper

• Massage therapist

• Data entry specialist

These jobs tend to avoid less interaction with the public, and if they do involve some sort of interaction, it’s different to those on the list of most stressful jobs. What we mean by this is that people tend to look forward to seeing the hairdresser or a massage therapist, whereas they don’t tend to look forward to those on our most stressful list.

What Can You Do To Reduce/Manage Stress?

Of course, due to the amount of pressure that stress can put on a person, it’s essential that steps are being taken to ensure they are supported properly. For example, companies that provide high-stress jobs should ensure that wellbeing at work is a priority, getting the right services in to offer support. From the company side, this is all that can be done: offering the correct support so that the employees have access when needed.

From the employee side, a few things can be tried. Learn some breathing techniques to help manage stress when it all becomes overwhelming. Ensure that time off is taken and that when things get a bit too overwhelming, they are being talked about. Taking the steps to access support can sometimes be tough, but it’s necessary to keep mental health in check.

Having a stressful job can be extremely tough, and it’s important that you are looking after yourself as best you can. If you want to change to a less stressful career, then we’re sure that nobody is going to blame you for that, and at least you’ve already got some ideas as to what the least stressful jobs are! We wish you the best of luck with this and hope you find a job that suits you going forward.