Retail/Hospitality workers under stress

Comments

Workers in the hospitality and retail industries are more prone to suffer from stress and depression than workers in other sectors, according to a new employment agency report.

 "The pain felt in retail and hospitality is not trivial," says the report by employee counselling firm WarrenShepall Consultants Corp.

  "Given their size, the economic problems of these sectors are the problems of the Canadian economy in general."

Retail and hospitality account for more than 50 per cent of total consumption by Canadian households and almost 7 per cent of gross domestic product, it says. Retail in particular employs more than 7 per cent of Canadians or about 1.75 million people. The study, titled Organizational Health & Wellness Trends in Retail & Hospitality, found that those working in retail have endured the most rapid rise in reported personal stress -- up about 1.5 times since 2000.

And the stress hits home too: Retail employees report more incidents of domestic violence -- in fact, twice the national norm, it says. The retail work environment has been characterized by high stress, with long hours, shift work and part-time employees. This translates on average into lower pay, fewer benefits and less job security, the report says. As well, retail employee commitment tends to be low.

"The wages are low and it's hard to survive," Kari Baker, a retailing consultant at Sixth Line Solutions in Vancouver, said in an interview. "That causes a lot of stress in people's lives. And retail is mostly a female work force."

The retail and hospitality industries have both been squeezed financially in recent years, aggravated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and SARS, the study says. Meanwhile, consumers have become more demanding in these globally competitive fields. In retail, consolidation and foreign takeovers have become common over the past decade as U.S.-based Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Home Depot expand across the country.

U.S. financier Jerry Zucker hinted recently he might take a run at Hudson's Bay Co., which would put one of the last major Canadian-owned retailers into American hands too -- a move that may cause anxiety among HBC employees, observers said. The study reviewed three years of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) at WarrenShepell, touching 91,000 employees at 72 companies in Canada.

It found that personal stress among retail and hospitality employees is the second most frequently presented problem at EAP sessions, compared with the third ranked among all workers (combined three-year average of 10.11 per cent, compared with the national norm of 8.84 per cent).

Depression symptoms account for 6.59 per cent of problems in both sectors combined, compared with the norm of 6.07 per cent, as a three-year average.

Hospitality employees, in particular, report higher rates of personal stress. Retail and hospitality employees also present a higher proportion of work relationship and conflict issues.

The study found especially troubling the higher reports of domestic violence in both sectors: a three-year average of 1.01 per cent compared with the norm of 0.52 per cent.

Retail workers came forward even more often with these problems: a three-year average of 1.14 per cent, which has been tied to some especially traumatic incidents of this nature.

"The violence is usually perpetrated against women associates [workers] by their partners," the report says. "The causes of this troubling behaviour within retail are unknown."WSN