The toxic workplace has a grip on the average American, and that grip is apparently getting tighter and tighter.

Blame for stress in unhealthy workplaces is easy enough to pin down: unreasonable expectations and unlikely goals set by managers.

Improbable lists of difficult tasks keep people busy — crazy busy, in fact. "Ridden hard and put away wet" has become the manager's mantra of our time.

Directive Analytics of Norwalk, Conn., interviewed 2,544 office workers this year in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The group spoke with 504 American workers.

Directive Analytics' research, which was commissioned by Pendaflex, an office, desktop and at-home organizational products company, found every other American is living on the bleeding edge of stress, mostly because of workplace expectations.

Forty-eight percent of American office workers are experiencing pressure at a harmful level, that is, they are on the cusp of ulcers, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. The survey was accurate to plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Workers under age 35 report the most stress, but Directive Analytics' research also indicates that women are often more affected by stress than men.

Because most work can't get done within the allotted time, about 49 percent of American office workers stay on the job late two to three times a week.

While job assignments are beyond the control of most workers, the structure of how that work gets done is not.

Pendaflex, a division of Esselte, a Stamford, Conn.-based manufacturer of office and school products, believes that its products can help work get done more efficiently and with less stress. The company makes at least one strong point.

"Organization is the one thing you can do something about when it comes to heavy workloads," said spokesman Chris Curran. "And it can help alleviate the stress. You may not be able to manage an unreasonable boss, but you can manage your work environment."