Passage 2
Stress of Workplace
A.
How busy is too busy? For some it means having to miss the occasional
long lunch; for others it means missing lunch altogether. For a few, it is not
being able to take a “sickie” once a month. Then there is a group of people for
whom working every evening and weekend is normal, and frantic is the tempo
of their lives. For most senior executives,workloads swing between extremely
busy and frenzied. The vice-president of the management consultancy AT
Kearney and its head of telecommunications for the Asia-Pacific region, Neil
Plumridge, says his work weeks vary from a “manageable” 45 hours to 80
hours, but average 60 hours.
B.
Three warning signs alert Plumridge about his workload: sleep, scheduling
and family. He knows he has too much on when he gets less than six hours of
sleep for three consecutive nights; when he is constantly having to reschedule
appointments;“and the third one is on the family side”, says Plumridge, the
father of a three-year-old daughter, and expecting a second child in October.
“If I happen to miss a birthday or anniversary, I know things are out of control.”
Being “too busy” is highly subjective. But for any individual, the perception of
being too busy over prolonged period can start showing up as stress:
disturbed sleep, and declining mental and physical health. National workers’
compensation figures show stress causes the most lost time of any workplace
injury. Employees suffering stress are off work an average of 16.6 weeks. The
effects of stress are also expensive.Comcare, the Federal Government
insurer, reports that in 2003-04, claims for psychological injury accounted for
7% of claims but almost 27% of claim costs. Experts say the key to dealing
with stress is not to focus on relief – a game of golf or a massage – but to
reassess workloads. Neil Plumridge says he makes it a priority to work out
what has to change; that might mean allocating extra resources to a job,
allowing more time or changing expectations. The decision may take several
days.He also relies on the advice of colleagues, saying his peers’ coach each
other with business problems. “Just a fresh pair of eyes over an issue can
help,” he says.
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