Being an important part of a company's operations might seem to be a worthy career goal, but results of a study suggest such a scenario can come with a personal price.

Findings of a study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health indicate that workers most likely to be stressed out are those the organization depends on the most.

In a survey of 2,737 people, 18 per cent reported their jobs as being "highly stressful." Some of the factors that increased the odds of falling into this category included being a manager, a professional, feeling one's performance can negatively affect others, and working long or variable hours.

Characteristics associated with the highly stressed workers in this study included being engaged and responsible. They also were likely to feel their failure to do their jobs properly could result in damage to their companies' finances or reputations.

Carolyn Dewa, head of the CAMH's work and well-being program, said the types of employees shown in this study as being most stressed out are largely the ones companies should want to protect.

"They're the people who are most invested in your organization," she said Tuesday. "These are the people you depend on."

The survey was taken of workers in Alberta, but its results were seen as being applicable across Canada. It was given a margin of error of two percentage points.

The CAMH said that chronic stress can lead to burnout and worsen existing mental-health and physical ailments. Such issues, Dewa said, contribute to $17 billion in productivity losses annually across the country due to employee absenteeism and those who continue to work but are less effective.

Dewa said both organizations and individuals should work together to prevent situations in which stress can take heavy tolls - both on the company and the employee.

While organizations want to put the most crucial tasks in the hands of their "go-to" people as much as possible, Dewa said companies can benefit in the long run by creating a more even distribution of workloads.

Dewa said workers should be able to tell their bosses that they need help without it being perceived as weakness or damaging their careers.

"If these are workers that you trust because they have been highly productive, then they're also the workers that you want to continue to support," Dewa said.

The survey found 82 per cent of its participants reported very low levels or no stress at all on the job. Those in this group were more likely than the overall general sample to be male, younger than 25 or working for a small business.