ABSTRACT
Stressful events such as downsizing, layoffs, and mergers have contributed to occupational stress becoming a fact of life for almost everyone in contemporary society. Common sources of job stress experienced by 199 male and female Canadian government workers involved in tax collection and the enforcement of tax laws were evaluated in this study, using Spielberger's (1994) Job Stress Survey (JSS). The mean JSS Severity and Frequency Scale scores of the Canadian workers were higher than those of a normative group of394 U.S. corporate employees; the Canadian employees also had higher scores on the JSS Lack of Organizational Support subscales. Analyses of responses to the individual JSS items identified the following specific stressors as most stressful for the Canadian workers: Less attractive pay scales, Lack of opportunity for advancement, Exclusion from policy-making decisions, Inadequate or poor quality equipment, and Noisy work areas. Canadian women rated Insufficient personnel to adequately handle an assignment, Making critical on-the-spot decisions, Noisy work areas, and Personal insult from customer/colleague as more stressful than Canadian men. Conflicts with other departments was the only JSS item that was rated as more stressful by the Canadian men.
