Stress Is a Signal: Why Misalignment at Work Costs More Than You Think
- Edith Hazel
- Nov 13, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 14, 2025
Choosing to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage, and when you choose to connect with others under stress you can create resilience —Kelly McGonigal
In March 2024, Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd published a striking analysis: work-related stress costs Denmark 54.6 billion DKK annually. Behind that figure are careers paused, talent stepping down, and organizations losing capacity, continuity, and trust.
Each year, stress removes the equivalent of 55,600 full-time workers from the labor market. One year after reporting stress, employees work six fewer hours per month, and the effect lasts for at least four years. One in ten stop working altogether.
This isn’t just burnout. It’s a signal of misalignment—between people and workplaces, between values and tasks, between effort and expectations.
What Makes Work Stressful? It’s Not Just the Workload
Stress isn’t always about doing too much. Often, it’s about investing energy in ways that don’t feel meaningful or manageable. Here are seven types of misalignment that quietly erode wellbeing—even in “good” jobs:
Value Misalignment
Your personal values clash with company culture and leadership.
You feel disconnected from the purpose of your work.
Role Misalignment
Tasks don’t match your strengths or interests.
Lack of role clarity. Expectations are unclear or constantly shifting.
Energy Misalignment
The pace or rhythm of work doesn’t suit your natural flow.
Recovery time is missing or fragmented.
Absorbing emotional demands that aren’t acknowledged or supported
Cognitive Misalignment
The work is either too complex or not challenging enough.
You lack autonomy or decision-making power.
Relational Misalignment
Communication is poor or psychologically unsafe.
You feel isolated or excluded.
Cultural Misalignment
Unspoken norms or expectations feel unfamiliar or hard to interpret.
Communication styles clash, creating friction despite good intentions.
You’re included, but not fully understood or reflected in how work happens.
Recognition Misalignment
Your effort isn’t acknowledged or rewarded.
Feedback feels arbitrary or misaligned with your real contributions.
Financial & Stability Misalignment
Compensation or benefits don’t reflect your responsibilities or market value.
Income or job security feels unstable, affecting long-term confidence.
Financial recognition is unclear, inconsistent, or disconnected from effort.
Identity Misalignment
You’re questioning your voice, your worth, or your options.
You’ve internalized beliefs that make stress feel normal
You’re in a role that no longer reflects who you’re becoming—or never did.
These misalignments don’t just affect mood, they shape long-term health. A 2021 study done in Denmark found that role conflict, bullying, and poor influence were strongly associated with sickness absence (SA), even in short episodes. Women showed higher sensitivity to psychosocial stressors, while men were more affected by physical work factors—except in cases of poor influence, which impacted men significantly across all SA durations.
Stress as a Career Signal—And a Shared Responsibility
Make some space now. Look back at the list above. How many checks do you have? Which of these misalignments are shaping your stress today?
Stress is often framed as a personal issue. The career signal that tells you that your energy, values, or identity may be quietly eroding. But it’s also a signal that organizations should notice, and it’s not just up to individuals to cope.
While emotional demands vary across roles, a 2024 mixed-methods study by Andersen and colleagues identified six organizational strategies that helped reduce burnout symptoms over six months. These included:
Supervision and case discussion after emotionally difficult tasks
Feedback on emotionally demanding work
Emotional venting in safe spaces
Rotation of tasks to relieve pressure
General discussion on coping with emotional demands
Structured support for processing client-related stress
These strategies offer structured ways to help employees recover depleted resources, whether emotional, cognitive, or energetic. They align with Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, which suggests that stress arises when we lose, or fear losing, resources that matter to us.
If Something Resonates, Don’t Ignore It
Stress isn’t always a crisis. Sometimes, it’s a quiet invitation to reflect and deserves attention. That self-inquiry might lead to a conversation, a boundary, a question, or simply a clearer sense of what matters now. Whatever emerges, let it be wisdom. Because wellbeing isn’t a luxury, it’s part of how we stay connected to what is meaningful to us.
For more reflections on my experience living abroad, my work on career-self awareness, and my perspective on career transitions, follow me on:
Instagram: @atypical.careers
Article written by Edith Escobedo
Photo by Unsplash Media
References:
Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd. (2024, March 10). Stress koster 55 mia. kr. om året. https://www.ae.dk/analyse/2024-03-stress-koster-55-mia-kr-om-aaret
Andersen, L. P., Andersen, D. R., & Pihl-Thingvad, J. (2025). Psychosocial climate as antecedent for resources to manage emotional demands at work. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(1), 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22010064
Koutsimani, A., Montgomery, A., & Georganta, K. (2020). The relationship between burnout, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 284. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7803903/
Pedersen, J., Graversen, B. K., Hansen, K. S., & Madsen, I. E. H. (2024). The labor market costs of work-related stress: A longitudinal study of 52,763 Danish employees using multi-state modeling. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4131
Graversen, B. K., Hansen, K. S., Rugulies, R., Sørensen, J. K., & Larsen, A. D. (2025). Economic gains from hypothetical improvements in the psychosocial work environment: A cohort study of 71,207 workers in Denmark. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 51(6), 472–482. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4244
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