February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Even though Irish people are working shorter hours and earning more money than they were five years ago, they are cramming more activity into their working day. A recent poll by www.irishhealth.com showed that almost three in four people do not take their full lunch break due to the pressures of work. At present, the average lunch break in Ireland lasts just 35 minutes.
According to VHI, Ireland’s largest health insurance company, over half of Irish workers never take a lunch break, one-in-10 fail to take an annual holidays and a fifth do not take their full holiday allowance.
“A few years ago, stress wasn’t perceived as a problem in the work place. Now it’s a significant problem,” according to Fergus Whelan, spokesperson for health and safety at work with the Irish Congress of Trade Union.
“We’re seeing a definite increase in people becoming ill through stress at work. There has also been an increase in compensation claims for illness due to stress at work.”
In an era of economic prosperity and high living costs, the pace of life has increased for most Irish workers. Less time spent at home, more time spent in traffic and spiraling childcare costs are just some of the factors contributing to stress levels in Ireland.
Within the workplace, factors such as job insecurity, unpleasant or hazardous working conditions and uncooperative fellow workers are among the main causes of stress, according to the ICTU.
“There is lots of pressure on people to maintain a work-life balance,” said Patricia Callan, assistant director of the SFA.
“Life in general has become more stressful. Our awareness of it has also increased. The more people hear about something, the more they identify it.”
Patricia Murray is a work and organizational psychologist with the Irish Health and Safety Authority. In her experience, poor communication results in the biggest cause of stress in the workplace.
“Relationships and conflict at work is a huge area,” she said.
“In the past it was simpler — roles were gender specific and hierarchical. The boundaries of power and respect have totally changed.”
In her view, work plays a far more central role in people’s lives than ever before.
“Work is equated with status nowadays,” she said.
“Years ago, people were too busy working to earn money to be worried about status. Now, people define themselves by their jobs. They put a lot of emotion into how they’re perceived to be doing their jobs. I don’t know if you can get that kind of fulfillment from your job.”
The World Health Organization predicts that stress will become biggest cause of all workplace ill-health by 2020. It is associated with coronary artery conditions, and recent Scandinavian research found a link between stress in the workplace and heart disease.
The economic implications of workplace stress are also considerable; at present, the International Labor Organization estimates that four percent of EU GNP goes towards treating mental health of employees suffering from stress.
The Irish Health and Safety Authority recently launched, “Work Positive – Prioritizing Organizational Stress,” an initiative to tackle stress within the workplace. The program provides a step-by-step guide to assessing risks of stress, and tips for managers about eliminating risk factors in their workplace.
“In well-run companies, stress shouldn’t be an issue,” said Murray.
“Employers are coming to us telling us that they don’t want their workers to be stressed. Companies need to balance the need for profit with the need for good performance from your workers.”
Her advice for managers is to create a professional atmosphere from the beginning.
“Employers need to establish very clearly what’s acceptable and what’s not,” she said.
“If you’re in charge of a work place, you need to say at the beginning: ‘it’s not acceptable to do x, y and z in the workplace.’ And set an example by not doing those things yourself.”
However, Callan reminds us that stress is not always a bad thing.
“We have to remember that a certain amount of stress is good for productivity, its just when it gets on top of you,” she said.
“There is a need to put some kind of stop to this spiraling notion hat everyone is stressed,” agreed Murray.
“We have to equip ourselves to deal with these situations and if it gets really bad, we need to look for help.”