Long hours can be dangerous

Canadian workers aged 25 to 54 are most likely to feel stress from the time crunch as they juggle work, family and personal responsibilities, says a Statistics Canada article.

The article, entitled “Long Working Hours and Health,” was published last fall and indicates long hours can increase anxiety, strain and irritability, and be dangerous to your health.

In 1994, 49% of men aged 25 to 54 years reported working 41 or more hours a week, vs 28% of women in the same age group. Among those working the longer hours, 32% of the men and 19% of the women put in at least 60 hours a week. In fact, men averaged 55 hours a week and women averaged 51 hours.

Of the 1,487 men and women surveyed, those in white-collar occupations, such as the banking industry, were more likely to report long hours (56%) than those in clerical, sales and service (46%) and blue-collar occupations (45%).

The report seems to indicate that economists’ predictions that Canadians would work a 32-hour workweek have failed to materialize. In fact, the proportion of men and women putting in long hours has been rising since the early 1980s.

It doesn’t help any that banks are restructuring, downsizing, laying off people and introducing new sales goals and new technology.

“People are feeling victimized,” says Richard Earle, co-founder of the Canadian Institute of Stress. Throwing computer workshops at employees during periods of high stress makes them feel worse and hate their employer, he says. Stressed employees simply stop caring. The company loses the most because the best people leave (either on a temporary stress leave or they quit).

Instead of having counsellors come in and treat stressed employees after they return from leave, Earle says, the problem should be nipped in the bud. CIS works with large corporations — such as AT&T and Procter & Gamble Inc. — to counter stress in the workplace while the companies are still in the early stages of the problem. “The earlier you reach the employee, the greater the payback,” says Earle.

CIS offers on-site programs to help employees deal with their stress and emotions during times of change in their workplace. This could mean anything from downsizing staff, as was the case with Air Canada, or moving across the country, as Shell Canada did with its employees.

Bell Canada used CIS and reported an 18% reduction in absences due to stress, a 32% reduction in conflicts and a 52% drop in disability. Customer service improved by 19%.

Big players in the banking industry, such as Royal Bank of Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Toronto-Dominion Bank, also use CIS models to cope with change. Their results have not been published.

For one of its model programs, CIS charges $550 an employee and usually works with up to 1,000 people from one company. Stress specialists from CIS come in for two full days or four half-days to instruct groups of 12 to 25 and help employees accept the changes being made in their companies. Team leaders and supervisors receive an extra half-day of stress management.

“Inevitably, when I look at a room of 25 people, I get two reactions,” says Earle. “One is that each one believes their situation is more stressful than anyone else’s, and second, each thinks he is probably handling it worse than anyone else. You can almost hear the sigh of relief when they hear they’re not the only ones [feeling stressed].”

Earle outlines four steps to help workers make positive changes and improve their working relationships with their bosses:

1. Want to have a winning situation.

2. Present the current problem.

3. Suggest a solution.

4. Ask when a plan can be implemented.