93% of you would lie about this

Something else needs to be mentioned here - take a good hard look at your finances - do you really need to earn all that money? Your health, and ultimately your life, is way, way more important than earning a few extra pounds. If you drop down dead due to work exhaustion/stress/etc - you can be replaced tomorrow, but how will your family cope? I was in a managerial position, getting loads of crap thrown at me from senior managers who had no idea of my workload - although the excuse was "there is always the free time between 3.30 and 5,30" which, strangely was also filled with everything else they expected me to do! Come appraisal time I was given 15 key tasks - as an addition to my normal workload, when i refused (I walked out of the appraisal) I was summonsed to a meeting with the head hierarchy whereupon I presented 4 sides of A4 covered with bullet points, each one representing a task I somehow 'inherited along the way'. I was sent on a time management course! Even the persdon running the TM course couldn't figure out how I was supposed to fit all my tasks into the day. Eventually I walked out - strange thing is, despite all the glossy brochures promising how staff would be looked after, exit interviews etc - no-one cared. We shuffled our finances, tightened our belts & I found a job earning much less, (take home £500 per month against £2000) but I no longer suffer back problems (stress), my hair has grown back (stress), I sleep soundly every night (stress), I enjoy every holiday, look forward to going & don't think about work until the morning I have to return, I no longer suffer regular bouts of cellulitis (stress), my bowels are now regular (stress) and I've even managed to regain control of my weight as I no longer need to comfort eat (stress), I've made new friends - I find it easier to socialise & I'm fairly certain I'll now live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up (if my boys ever get around to doing something about that!). Looking back, I feel that the stress I was under was 100% the creation of managers above me, they would sit on something until; it became desperate then chuck it down to me & expect results yesterday - I know this because a lot of the people I dealt with were amazed things were dragging on "I sent those papers out weeks ago" was the commonest thing I heard. I tired of apologising so laid the blame squarely with whoever the document was originally sent to - and despite me bending over backwards to move heaven and earth to get things done, the seniors never seemed to get the kick up the backside they so richly deserved. In fact, they got free health care, gym membership and company car options, my colleagues and I got all the crap. It's the rich wot gets the pleasure, it's the poor wot gets the blame. I always thought stress was a made-up thing to skive a few days off and even living through the hell I didn't realise what was going on. It was only the day after I walked out that I realised just what I'd been living through, believing I had to earn loads to live.

I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY about working for yourself, if you can - it's life-changing. Anyway, my point is the implication in the article that 'Bosses' are the ones who have to do something about the stress of their 'workers'; and in any case, can we lose this old fashioned anachronistic terminology? How about managers and staff? OK, 'managers' are instrumental, sometimes in the causation, and certainly in being able to assist when stress is present, however, we seem to be forgetting that the managers themselves are often under as much, if not greater amounts of stress than the staff. In my experience, stress at or near the top can be immense. I don't speak as a stressed person, but rather as one who has witnessed it. Jon

Bengilda, I think you're missing the point a bit. (1) When you are under pressure and not capable of managing your workload, that isn't a problem you can resolve by sitting in your house and thinking about it. (2) Admitting that you are stressed or that you need help, isn't an easy thing to do, especially when you are in the midst of that experience (you may not even be aware). (3) Employees are responsible for completing the tasks they are set and for doing them to the best of their abilities. But, their managers or superiors are responsible for setting appropriate and realistic tasks, and for knowing and valuing strengths and weaknesses when setting tasks. Good managers, pre-empt situations which will cause stress by planning projects well and by regularly communicating with their employees. Those who just look at a situation where work isn't being done, or which is productive but with employees who are crying, rapidly losing or gaining weight, being aggressive or very subdued, and just think 'Oh well, if there's a problem, my colleagues will flag it up' are at best idiots and at worst abusive. This article didn't at any point deny that ultimately, stress is personal and responses to it can only be mastered by the person experiencing stress. However, it is frequently associated with work conditions and this article rightly addresses the point that it is impacting productivity and worker health. Therefore it is an area managers should be aware of and should be better skilled in tackling and addressing. Re: using weekends and evenings, that's a pretty moot point for most people I know, they can't take time off until the job is done so they can go months without weekends off and without holiday time allowed. This again is something which only their managers, who are the ones creating office norms, can alter. Additionally, boredom is an issue that should be tackled in the same way, as identified here: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2011/07/12/bored_people_quit.html Employees can't always articulate their feelings or do not always feel safe to, good managers are also good observers, they spot issues before they are issues.