Stress hits new areas of workplace

New Delhi, May 14: Stress and mental fatigue has intensified in recent times at top and middle positions with construction, shipping, banks, government hospitals, print and electronic media among top ten high stress zones in workplace.

According to Assocham, construction, shipping, banks, government hospitals, star trading houses, electronics and print media, courier companies, SSI, retail and card franchise companies are becoming high stress zone jobs like the BPO, IT and ITeS sectors.

In the analysis on 'Level of Stress in Workplace', it has been revealed that top executives such as civil engineers, architects, contractors, engineer officers, masters in various departments brave stress.

Also, in the spectrum of high stress jobs are the branch and marketing managers, doctors, production managers, quality controllers, editors, reporters, copy writers, operations and marketing managers, quality controllers, supervisors and sales and marketing managers.

However, though under stress, better working conditions prevail at jobs like CA, lawyers, tax consultants and sectors like automobile, infrastructure, advertising, NBCFs, said the industry body.

The key factors for heavy stress has been attributed to pressure of scheduled time period for completion of targets and projects, overloaded work pressures throughout the year and high demand for performance.

Working conditions, lack of staff, threats from competitors have been the other key factors.

According to the study, low stress zones comprise employees in Central government offices, state government offices, institutions and bodies funded by Central and state governments which have very low stress in view of limited working hours, surplus staff and lack of competition.

''There is an impression that workforce in the BPO, call centres and the IT sector are only facing the maximum stress compared to other sectors. The scenario has now changed and other sectors are also under the grip of stress,'' Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

For construction companies, developers who undertake various projects in areas like construction, infrastructure, road and highways have to execute their work in a scheduled period in view of cost and time factor.

There is a dearth of engineers, architects, technicians in view of attractive packages offered by other sectors. Hence, workers engaged in these projects and sites work for long hours and in odd environment and, hence, are over stressed, says the study.

It states that analysis of computer data and continuous working for four to six months in ships puts the ship operators like chief engineer officers, second engineer officer, masters in various departments, and supporting staff in the crew under immense pressure. On the banking front, the growth of the sector has put a lot of pressure on recovery of loans from companies and individuals. The study reveals that these activities are making an impact on the mental health of branch managers, marketing managers, sales and customer care executives, among others.

For the government hospitals, there is a large inflow of general and emergency patients in a day and an acute shortage of doctors, nurses, lab boys and attendants have led to stress while huge orders for manufacturing recieved by Star Trading Export Houses from buyers of the US, the EU and Japan have been the contention.

Emphasis on superior quality sample/products to be delivered through ship or air contributes to further the stress level.

Most affected are merchandiser, quality controllers, production manager, supervisor, factory workers and others.

Insomnia among employees of various TV channels and leading newspapers employees such as reporters, copywriters, desk editors, photographers, cameramen because of their unusual working hours lead to a high level of stress, says the study.

Courier companies have been hit by the demands for delivery in a scheduled time. Most of these courier companies have various franchise offices across the country and these franchise offices find a stiff competition from their own company's franchise offices located nearby.

These small offices have limited staff and employees like operations and marketing manager, pick-up and delivery boys are under high stress.

According to Assocham, tough competition from large manufacturers and exporters in view of lack of funds, infrastructure facilities and total number of employees, SSI units are working more than 15-16 hours to meet its targeted production, thereby affecting the mental health of its employees.

Sales and marketing managers, counter boys, in the retail sector, especially the ones working in the shopping malls, are increasingly frustrated with long queues of customers who shop in bulk from these malls, states Assocham.

Lastly Assocham adds, card franchise providing credit cards of various banks and also providing personal, housing, auto and other types of loans, find their employees under high expectations and targets.

Assocham in its study has suggested that employers should set up rest rooms and employees could also learn relaxation techniques such as meditation, biofeedback, deep breathing or could do yoga for 15 to 20 minutes during the work day, which can be effective stress busters.

UNI