A shortened stress evaluation tool (ASSET)

Abstract Awareness is increasing that workplace characteristics can directly influence the physical and mental well‐being of employees, adversely affecting an organization's overall performance. As the effect of work‐related stress on employee health is of particular concern, many companies are looking to develop stress risk assessment programmes. However, the measurement instruments commonly used to examine workplace stressors are long, complex and developed primarily for white‐collar workers—making evaluations expensive and potentially inaccurate for most employee groups. An alternative, two‐stage, risk assessment process is proposed, whereby a short questionnaire is used initially to screen all employees and then conventional risk assessment tools used to evaluate in detail just those individuals identified as having a potential stress problem. The ASSET questionnaire was developed as a short instrument suitable for the first stage of this process. The three main sections of the questionnaire measure employee perceptions of their job, organizational commitment and employee health. Tests involving 9196 employees in 10 public and private sector organizations within the British Isles found ASSET to be quick and easy to complete, generating a high response rate. It has a small number of reliable factors for ease of interpretation, and has excellent validity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.