Work stress is seriously affecting employees' performances, leading to a decrease in productivity, more missed days from work and increased absenteeism, according to a new Statistics Canada report.

The findings, taken from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey, were published Wednesday in Perspectives on Labour and Income, a StatsCan publication.

The strain a particular job places on a person, which takes into account psychological effect, decision-making ability and pace of work, was one of the variables measured in the report.

It found that male employees who had high-strain jobs were 1.7 times more likely than those with low-strain jobs to report that they had performed less work due to a long-term health condition and 1.5 times more likely to report having taken at least one disability day in the two weeks prior to participating in the survey.

Physical exertion and insecurity about one's job also led to stressful workplace conditions, the study finds. More men than women reported their jobs required a lot of physical exertion — 48 per cent for men versus 40 per cent for women.

Job insecurity was about the same for men and women, with 15 per cent of each group reporting a high amount in the workplace.

Women were more likely than men to report work stress — 28 per cent said they had high-strain positions and 17 per cent said they had low-strain jobs, while 20 per cent of men reported high-strain jobs and 24 per cent said they had low-strain positions.

One-third of women surveyed said they were a bit or extremely stressed most days at work — versus 29 per cent of men.

And shift workers (29 per cent) reported having high-strain jobs more often than other employees (20 per cent). They were also more likely to say that their jobs are physically demanding (53 per cent) than other employees (40 per cent).

"A supportive environment both at and away from work may help prevent reduced work activities by mitigating the effects of work-related stress," reads the report.