The Diary
of
Anne Ku

18 October 2000 Wednesday

WORK-RELATED STRESS

I read that workers in the lower rungs of the company ladder suffer the most stress. To put it correctly, people who face high time pressures (such as deadlines), have low autonomy (not able to determine what they want to do), and perform repetitive (predictable and boring) tasks are most susceptible.

Thinking back, my father and his colleagues were probably very stressed in their translation and editorial jobs. Stress accumulates and manifests itself in health problems, such as ulcers and high blood pressure.

Most people don't recognise the signs of stress when they experience it. People tend to eat less well, sleep less well, and get irritated easily. We have to forgive our stressed out colleagues for cutting us off, not looking at us when we're talking to them, looking at the screen and typing but pretending to listen, and all such disrespectful behaviour.

Yesterday

Tomorrow