Hidden thieves are stealing your employees' vitality and productivity, and costing your company serious money. Human resources and benefits managers are responsible for flushing out the felons and fixing the problems they create. Managers must ask important questions that will bring the concealed issues to light. Take these, for example.

Do we know all the factors that increase stress in our employees? Are human resources and benefits managers searching in the right places for the actual causes of employee stress? If managers can reduce a significant portion of the stress suffered in the workplace today, can HR substantially increase work productivity and seriously reduce a portion of skyrocketing health care costs?

Many studies have looked at the effects of stressful working conditions on employees, and often come to the same general conclusions, as stated in an Industrial Accident Prevention Association study. “When looking at employee health and well-being, it must be recognized that a worker's general health is substantially affected by two major factors—what workers bring with them to the workplace, in terms of heredity, personal resources, health practices, beliefs, attitudes and values; and what the workplace does to the employees once they are there.”