Stress is not only executive

While the recession means redundancies and less work for some, others are finding that they are working increased hours and are under huge pressure to work longer and harder to make up for shortfalls.

Robert Half International's 2009 Auckland Salary Guide, which surveyed almost 1000 finance and accounting professionals in Auckland, found that credit managers and auditors are working longer hours and are under increased pressure to extend themselves further.

A statement from the company said: "There has been a 71 per cent increase in the proportion of credit managers working more than 45 hours a week (from 28 per cent to 48 per cent) and a 52 per cent increase in the proportion of auditors working the same hours (from 31 per cent to 47 per cent).

Robert Half's senior manager Megan Alexander says the results mirrored the change recruitment consultants were seeing, with cost-containment specialists, and generalists being most in demand.

She says some finance employees, such as payroll clerks, were finding their workload reduced. "This is because, with redundancies, there are fewer people to pay." But the others were finding themselves filling in for staff that had been made redundant.

There are different types of redundancy, she says. There are a number of companies who are taking advantage of the current economy to "cull below-average performers", and it could be a wise move to be doing that at this time. However, she says some companies are having their offshore and other owners demand general redundancies. "Managers are being told to cull their teams back - this means more work and less resources for those left standing," she says.

"Job descriptions are a thing of the past," Alexander says. "It's a matter of roll up your sleeves and do what needs to be done. Many employees are being expected to do work that's below their skill sets as well as what they usually do. And their sentiment, at the moment, is to be thankful to have a job."

Alexander says it's not unusual for people to be working seven days a week and bringing three hours of work home at night. "Real deadlines still have to be met."

The result of all this, Alexander says, is employees are getting extremely stressed. "It's very negative for family life and it's really unproductive for companies in the end. Under this level of stress, staff start to become unengaged. Putting employees in this situation is telling them that the company is not really there for good employees. This causes a big morale and retention problem."

She says companies remember that their employees are human beings with needs that need to be addressed. "Employees are not mind readers. Companies need to communicate well and regularly - they need to be told why you're doing the cost cutting. You don't want them hearing things through gossip and rumour - they need to learn what's going on from the top."

Alexander says the problem is that good employees tend to dig deeper when there's crisis, but everyone has a breaking point. "Getting them to work all these extra hours can be great for now - but it's no good in the long term," she said. If your top staff are feeling badly treated, it's likely that they'll either burn out or move on once the economy improves.

Alexander makes the point that with more people on the market with redundancies and fewer jobs, job candidates are prepared to drop pay expectations. However, if companies take advantage of that, it's quite likely that when the economy recovers, they'll feel short-changed and jump ship to better opportunities. Also, although there are more people on the market, it's more difficult today to find good staff than before - the top talent is not moving. "Those companies that don't need top talent can get good deals in this market - but what happens when the economy changes and the candidate feels undervalued? This can be negative for the organisation, and is very short-term thinking," she says.

Alexander says employers should remember that it's not all about money - communication, flexibility and a good work culture are important. "Show your good employees recognition - in these hard times they need positive reinforcement. Managers tend to use their resources in dealing with average performers because those at the top tend to be less high-maintenance. Top talent gets on with things and delivers - but they need acknowledgement in order to see you through. Good, visible leadership is essential in these times," she says.

Auckland's Dr Stress, John McEwan, says he's seeing many cases of top employees dealing with extreme stress at the moment. "Companies are being extremely short-sighted. In bad times there are two things you don't save on: marketing and quality staff, as those are the things that will see you through." He says making the right choices can mean a business' survival or destruction.

"Accountant-driven management decisions can be counter-productive. You need intelligent life driving the decision-making."

He says companies who go for general cost-cutting are not looking at things strategically. "Forget the share price -look at performance and ways to improve it, that will see you through."

He says well-positioned companies focus forward and stick to what they do well. "Cut costs where it makes sense - in those top-heavy, non-profit activities that produce so much paperwork. Focus on what makes your boat go faster; cutting staff and putting staff under more and more pressure doesn't do that."

His advice to employees who are feeling stressed is: "Go to your GP quickly - if you ignore the stress it will deepen and affect different organs: your stomach, heart, it can cause bowel problems.

"Particularly if you are a man in your 40s who is under pressure, get a baseline stress echocardiogram done - get a full heart audit, as you are risking dropping dead of a heart attack. You need to know if your heart is up to taking the level of stress you're putting it under."

McEwan also suggests people dealing with inordinate amounts of stress should go speak to someone who really understands the stress reaction. "Also, make sure you are eating good food, having lots of water between meals, that you are doing daily exercise and daily relaxation. Make sure you recharge in the winter sun. And remember the old rule: six days working, one day off - make sure that the day off is technology-free. Your body and brain need the rest to recharge.

"If you decide not to do these things, and particularly if you're a man in your 40s, my suggestion is to make sure your life insurance policy is up to date - so even if you have an unhappy death, you can die rich and your family can enjoy the money."

It's important for managers to understand and recognise when an employee is under stress, stress management specialist Werner Naef says. Managers should be alert to the early warning signs of stress in their staff - particularly when they are allocating extra work and are rescheduling holiday breaks.

Naef makes the point that sometimes managers who are trying to relieve stress for their employees do exactly the opposite. "It doesn't help to say, 'Oh, you're not coping, I'll take that work off you and do it myself'. Doing that can make the employee feel humiliated, and therefore it increases stress." Managers need to know how to really help staff with stress. "Those who focus on the 2 per cent of things that go wrong are not helping," Naef says.

Some things to look out for are: a staff member making silly mistakes repeatedly and bringing themselves down because of it - "It's always me being stupid"; a staff member withdrawing, and not communicating anymore; or a staff member trying to get others to do the job for them or having problems in understanding the issue.

"In recession times, some staff will need more help in coping with stress," Naef says.

The signs of stress may be small and subtle, he says, "but if you are trained to recognise these, you can move to head off a potentially dangerous situation for the individual concerned and for the business".

When commenting on a study by Waikato University that found New Zealanders were working longer hours, he said work-life balance was critical "particularly in tough economic times".

"People under stress can make bad decisions ... the best training in the world will go out the window when people are under stress.

"This can be disastrous. Airlines, high-speed railways, hospital operating theatres, the military, and health and safety at work are all sectors where a wrong decision can cause injury or death to others, with all the flow-on costs associated with that."

Naef champions communication and stress identification training across a range of high-risk industries such as airlines, high-speed rail, defence and health sectors, as well as business, education and community organisations. His work involves collaboration with many companies and organisations in New Zealand, Australia and Europe in the delivery of sophisticated human factors professional development.