When companies merge or downsize, or when there are budget cuts in the public sector, remaining workers have to do more work.

Workers sometimes lose their titles, get paid less, and are underutilized.

When staffing levels are not adequate for the workload, pressure increases for those who are left, resulting in an increase in errors and injuries on the job.

Sometimes management doesn’t have a clear direction. Not having the right parts, materials, tools and skills on the job at the right moment can cause a lot of stress. Other times management plans to drive people out and speed up work. These are both mismanagement.

Workers are constantly being "watched," physically and electronically, so break-time can be squeezed out and productivity can increase.

Due to economic pressure, both parents often need to work outside of the home and may also have longer working hours.

Workers experience sexual, age, racial and other forms of discrimination. There is pressure in the workplace to push higher paid workers out and divide the workforce to weaken worker resistance and solidarity.

There is a push by management to increase the work pace through quotas and fewer breaks.

As use of lower-paid/no-benefit temporary workers increases, full-time workers feel less secure.