Your Job and Your Health

With all the time saving technology at out disposal, we are more time-starved today than ever before "Work-related stress has changed dramatically over the past twenty five years," says Katherine Crowley, a psychotherapist and principal of Small Business Strategy, Inc. a company that assists small and medium sized business owners grow their businesses. "In the modern office, employees face constant interruptions- the phone rings, the fax machine starts up, e-mails arrive non-stop, beepers and cell phones intrude - and each demands an immediate response. The stress is that, with all the interruptions, many people don't have the time during the workday to get to their real work. So to compensate, many are coming in much earlier in the morning and working late into the evening."

In addition to working longer hours, many of us also take our work home. Thanks to all the instant communication devices that are available to us today, we can always be on call. "Work boundaries have blurred," says Crowley, "cell phones, e-mails, portable computers, palm pilots - it's now possible to be in contact with our work anywhere, at any time, 24/7."

Studies show that work-related stress comes at a cost to both the employee and the organization. Stress can result in physical symptoms like digestive problems, sleep problems and diminished sexual desire. Or the response may be emotional - with anger, or frustration or depression. Or stress may result in work-related symptoms like chronic lateness, absenteeism and accidents on the job. By some estimates, businesses lose as much as $200 billion a year in stress-related accidents, lost productivity, absenteeism and medical insurance costs.

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