Behind the Beehive buzz: Sources of occupational stress for New Zealand policy officials

Abstract

Described as quintessential knowledge workers and also practitioners of a public service ethic, policy officials generate vital inputs into good government. This article reports on sources of stress identified by 24 policy managers and senior advisers in the New Zealand State Service. Stressors were similar, but also different, to those commonly found in the stress literature. The differences were particularly noticeable in workload demands, which were not only quantitative (too much and urgent work) but also qualitative (technically difficult work), and these combined uniquely with role proliferation and complexity (multi‐tasking), and a policy professional culture in which there was pressure to over‐perform. These features provided both negative and positive stress experiences—the strain and the buzz of performance and occupational well‐being.

Keywords:

• work stress
• government policy advisors
• eustress
• performance