Canada Ranked Second In World For Stressed Out Workers
Monday December 8, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
It's Monday morning and you drag yourself out of bed to go back to work. It's enough to make you feel sick and according to a new survey, for a lot of Canadians, that's exactly what it's doing.
This country is second in the world in a poll of how badly your job affects your health. It was taken by international recruiting firm Kelly Services and it shows many of us aren't hale and hearty in the 9-to-5 world.
The company looked at 33 countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific and North America and discovered that 19 percent of those asked admitted their job was playing havoc with their well being. Another 13 per cent confessed they were so stressed out, they couldn't sleep at night.
Canada ranked second as the country with the highest percentage of affected workers, beaten only by Japan, where job pressures are so intense, some have actually committed suicide over the intensity of their employment's demands.
Why are we so high on the list? One explanation may be that both Canada and Japan give their workers the fewest days of holidays on average - only about ten a year - a rate far lower than other countries.
Just over a third of those asked said they'd taken three or more sick days in the past year and a good 35 per cent noted they'd been made to feel guilty about it. Only 15 per cent conceded they'd book off ill when they really weren't, taking one or more of those so-called 'mental health days.'
They're alarming statistics that could get even worse as the economic downturn continues to filter through to the general workforce.
"People are spending more time at work, sometimes at the expense of personal health and wellbeing," the Kelly Global Workforce Survey warns. "A significant number of people also believe that the state of their health is at risk because of workplace conditions."
So what's the answer?
The survey suggests better communication between bosses and staff about what's expected - and what's realistic - will go a long way towards easing that stress. And so will programs designed to encourage workers to do even better.
"Employers can play a pivotal role in improving the health and fitness of their workers by introducing incentives and programs to keep staff encouraged, motivated and productive," the survey concludes.
Now if they could just find a cure for Monday mornings.
This is why I plan to work only part-time for the rest of my life. yeah.
ChemEnhanced
dEsidEL
i'm sure the long and cold winters we have here have a lot to do with it too..
DJ_Elyot
Japan has 5 weeks of holidays a year (although much of the recent legislation along these lines has been in response to people dying from work-related stress). The problem in Japan is NOT the lack of holidays; it's that most people work a lot of unpaid overtime (10+ hours per week) and spend 2 hours a day commuting. But the article claimed only 10 holidays per year and that's utter bull unless the article is 20 years old.
The solution is clearly this:
PivotTechno
quote:
Originally posted by jennypie
This is why I plan to work only part-time for the rest of my life. yeah.
Same reason my fiancee and I are picking up new trades (we're both in school for shiatsu therapy) and focusing on home-based operations (my DJ school). Make your own hours, ftw!
Sorin.16v
This doesn't surprise me at all. I chose to stay away from highly stressful jobs for a reason
mute79
How much of that stress is attributable to people's ineptitude at managing their own time?
Silky Johnson
quote:
Originally posted by mute79
How much of that stress is attributable to people's ineptitude at managing their own time?
Bahaha, good point.
dEsidEL
quote:
Originally posted by mute79
How much of that stress is attributable to people's ineptitude at managing their own time?
"Canada ranks 2nd in the World in poor time management skills." :D
