Business competition and deadlines put 66% CEOs under stress

New Delhi, July 9 (UNI) Severe business competition and work related deadlines have put more than half of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in India under stress.

Most of the CEOs do not consult doctors but read books and spend time with their families to cope up with the work pressure, an Assocham Business Barometer (ABB) survey has revealed.

Over 66 per cent of the 270 CEOs and CMDs contacted in the survey stated that they do come under stress, with the mental pressure being the severest of the trouble spots. As many as 22 per cent said that the stress level was moderate for them, while for 11 per cent it was high.

About 70 per cent of the industry leaders coping with the work pressure suffer more of a mental stress than the physical strain, the survey covering most of the industry sectors showed.

Paradoxically, not many of the corporate honchos prefer to consult their doctors unless they have symptoms of diabetes, blood pressure, indigestion and insomnia.

In reply to a separate questionnaire, 82 per cent of the medical consultants revealed that the company heads do not visit them unless they have visible and severe life-style related diseases.

''Doing business in India under severe competitive conditions is not easy. It tests your physical and mental stamina,'' Assocham President Anil K Agarwal said.

Severe business competition (SBC) puts the maximum of pressure on the company heads who are always looking for 'innovative' ways to stay ahead of their rivals. As many as 77 per cent of the ABB respondents said the SBC was the main culprit for adding to their pressure.

Staff constraint (44 per cent), work related deadlines (44 per cent) and business travelling (44 per cent) are other three main reasons for the stress level of the CEOs.

There was an overlap of reasons among these three parameters.

The respondents were given the options to rank the causes of stress and all the three reasons were cited with equal weightage.

Reading books, spending time with family and listening to music were cited as the three main stress busters. Yoga is catching up fast among the corporate leaders while the good old habbit of playing golf has taken a back seat.

Fifty five per cent of the CEOs and CMDs take to reading, while 44 per cent find spending time with family and listening to their favourite numbers as the ways to relax their nerves. Thanks to popularity of the Yoga Gurus and things like Art of Living, 33 per cent of the ABB respondents said they do meditation and pranayam and find it quite a stress-reliever.

Interestingly, the CEOs in India said that their peers in the US, Europe and China suffer more stress. The SBC in these countries takes the maximum toll on the corporate leaders than here in India, the ABB found.

UNI PV/MQA PKS KN1433