Work and Stress

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 By day Bob Bellmore is an executive accounts manager working 12 hour days keeping tabs for some of Alberta's largest oilfield construction projects; by night he's father extrodinare- chauffer, coach, cheerleader and task-master all rolled into one.

  He says he wouldn't give up the latter for all the money on the planet. His career path, however, is beginning to crumble under the strain.

 The pressure of managing two distinct lives- one at work and one at home- is taking a toll on production on all counts.

  "I've been at this job for 20 years," Bellmore says. "My family has grown, and so have my obligations, but so has the work level at the office.  The scales are not tipped in my favour."

  It is a stressful co-existence, pitting work hours against quality time at home, but Bellmore says he's determined to make it work. "I'll have to because I'll never take it away from my family."

  These days, Bellmore's struggle is typical.

  According to recent reports on employment trends, stress levels among Canada's workforce are continuing to rise as corporations begin placing more burden on their employees.

  "Will productivity increase? Sure, it's the nature of people," says Byrne Luft, regional vice-president for Manpower Staffing Services in Alberta.

"But people are worried about their jobs, and it's not just all the unpaid overtime, people will work their overtime because they don't want to lose their jobs," he adds.

  A recently released study, called the 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study, backs up the experts as it finds the vast majority of employees worked at least one or two days of unpaid overtime each month. It's not uncommon for employees to give up as much as five days every month of unpaid, overtime hours.

Luft notes that, for salaried employees, there are certain expectations set out for the employees. These expectations continue to increase and the result is workers putting in the extra hours to maintain their reputation with the boss.

However, it's not just unpaid overtime that is adding to rising stress levels in the workforce.

  "Your employer or supervisor will definitely look at those that put in more work, perceptually," says Luft, adding it often comes down to the perception of being at the office for more hours rather than getting the required work completed.

  The cooling off of the economy over the past year hasn't helped alleviate stress levels in the workplace, either, say experts.

Several psychologists, therapists and other organizations are busy every day coaching people on stress coping mechanisms and other tools to deal with the onslaught of work and technology from the office or workplace.