Beat The Clock

Comments

By Erik David
Worksite News Service

The day management established a firm time line on finished projects was Robert Tanner's last on the job. He up and quit! Just like that.
  “It was a long time coming,” he says. “There was just too much pressure to get the job done, and this was the final straw.”
 
What got Rob riled was the company's new timing policy. The Ottawa-based accounting firm he worked for was now demanding all employees “clock in and out” with completed jobs left intact and ready for the client.
 
The stress level in the office was at an all time high. Too much for Rob to handle. “I know an associate who had a heart attack at work. It was caused by work. It's not happening to me.”
  Increasing work demands, staff cut backs and pressures on the home front are all taking an unprecedented toll on worker health across North America. As a result, Canadian workers are booking more time off for stress leave, mental health problems and physical fatigue. Or they're quitting their jobs for less demanding occupations.
  “I had some things lined up already. But it won't be in accounting- or software,” he says. “There's just to much pressure in some of these high-profile professions.” 
 
Rob's friend with the heart condition worked for a software firm which instituted a similar clock system two years ago. “That was his undoing,” Rob says. “He should have protested for his and everyone's well-being.”
 The clock system my not be widespread, but Canadian workers are still working against time, and it's effecting their health, and the company's bottom line.
  According to a new Health Canada study the effects of "role overload" are costing Canadian businesses as much as $10-billion a year in overtime and contracting out required to complete the work of absent employees.
 
Statistics Canada also reports that about $40 billion per year is lost in productivity due to various stress-related illnesses in Canada. This number jumps to $300 billion in the United States.
 "We knew there was a problem a decade ago. Organizations throughout the '90s talked about the importance of people, but then treated them like any other commodity,” says Linda Duxbury business professor at Carleton University in Ottawa “It's clear we've left the decade in far worse shape in terms of the work force, in terms of their health and in terms of how they feel about their employer." 
 
Prof. Duxbury and Chris Higgins of the University of Western Ontario assessed the cost of absenteeism as reported by 31,500 Canadians who work in public, private and non-profit organizations. About 55% of those who responded were women, many of them in their 40s facing mid-career pressures and a "full nest" at home, with the need to care for children and elderly parents.
  The study is the fourth of seven the authors are doing on aspects of work comparing the results of the 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study to a similar poll of workers at private, public and non-profit organizations done in 1991.
  The survey found 25% of Canadians worked at least 50 hours a week in 2001, which was up substantially from a decade earlier, when only 10 per cent of workers reported such long hours.
 
The biggest pressure, what Prof. Duxbury termed "role overload," is the feeling there is not enough time available to meet the demands in the job and their personal life.
  Professional women in the survey reported working as hard as the men at work but also working harder than men at home. "It's the 'super-mom' thing," Prof. Duxbury said.
  The survey found 60% of all respondents said they have trouble balancing their work and family demands and 28% had missed at least three days of work in the previous six months because of illness. One in 10 reported taking "mental health days" because of emotional or mental fatigue.
 
"Elder care is going to be the next big thing," said Prof. Duxbury. A decade ago, only one in 12 reported having to deal with the care of elderly parents or relatives, but in the 2001 survey, 60% said they had some form of elder care. In the survey, 10% said it was causing them stress and physical fatigue every day, and another 15% said it was causing stressful situations at least once a week. "That's because of the aging of the boomers. I think the point to make is: For years employers have talked about working families and really dismissed it." 
 
Organizational culture specialist Stephen Hobbs, says employers often have unrealistic expectations when instituting policies aimed an enhancing productivity, often in the wake of layoffs. When half the department is eliminated, top brass may expect the work to get done, he says.
 “There's a paradox in organizations today that they want you do more with less..So many people have their duties set out in advance, but then suddenly in the morning, wham--there's something else to take care of,” Hobbs says.
  Casey Plaizier, a career and management consultant in Calgary, worked with a human resource manager recently to review her position and to recommend changes or the addition of another employee into the role.
 
“This person cannot work another minute in a day. I mean, she's putting in 12-14 hours a day and she can't go anymore,” Plaizier says. “It has affected her work/life balance.”
  According to Prof. Duxbury, businesses must start to recognize the damaging toll demands on taking on the workforce, and make adjustments. That is, if they want to stay competitive.
  For employers, the message is: "You're not going into this as an accommodation or to be nice to people, you're doing this because it makes business sense. If you can reduce work-life conflicts you can reduce absenteeism by at least a quarter, if not more." Benefits costs will also be reduced.
"And if you don't focus on balance in work-life conflicts, good luck in recruiting and retaining employees in the next decade as we move into a sellers' market because you're not going to get loyalty.
  "You can pay for their presence but you can't buy their passion.WSN