By Catherine Ballantyne-Choo
This article presents some results of a study done by Towers Watson about the workplace in Canada and the United States.
According to the study, 89% of workers complain of heavy workloads and this leads to other stresses: “Canadian respondents cited excessive workloads, lack of work/life balance, unclear or conflicting job expectations and inadequate staffing as top sources of workplace stress.” Compared to a similar study performed a couple of years ago, this is an increase of 25%. The survey also showed that mental health conditions topped the list of short term and long-term disability claims (83% short term and 85% long term) in Canada. To deal with this, companies are considering paying their employees bonuses if they participate in fitness and other health management programs. So, it would seem to me that companies are beginning to see the value in taking care of their employees mentally (as well as physically) and hopefully with the right resources, the stress levels will reduce. If the members of the workplace are finally seeing the benefits of keeping active and taking care of themselves, students should realize that their mental health is just as important as their physical.
