Feature

Why employees need psychological help

Work pressure and long working hours take a toll on the IT workforce. Companies are providing psychological support to lessen their emotional stress, writes Vinutha V.

Stress is an unavoidable part of most job roles in the IT sector. The cause ranges from stringent deadlines to meeting customer expectations, leading to both physical and psychological problems. While most organisations have a system in place to take care of the physical well-being of their employees, lately they have also started focussing on providing emotional support through psychological counselling. These companies also want to find out whether counselling can lead to greater motivating among the workforce so that they can better themselves and develop new skills.

Issues concerning IT employees

"Emotional stress in the long-term might result in employees becoming irritable and unable to concentrate on their work" - Dr S Kalyanasundaram Clinical Director, India PPC Worldwide

In the IT sector, many reasons attribute to the emotional stress compared to the non-IT sector. Dr S Kalyanasundaram, Clinical Director, India, PPC Worldwide (Personal Performance Consultants), says, “The underlying fact of long working hours and satisfying customers by meeting deadlines sitting miles away, is the basic challenge in the IT industry. Emotional stress in the long-term might result in employees becoming irritable and unable to concentrate on their work. This can even affect their productivity and similarly can impact the entire chain, right from an individual to a team and ultimately the company.” The IT job process involves several aspects such as recruitment, retention, performing in a fast-paced environment often characterised by time-critical projects, fluctuating work patterns, job insecurities and working in shifts. Globalisation of the workplace, pace of change to adopt and pressure management will also have a great effect on an individual’s emotions. Apart from the nature of the IT job, an individual has to cope up with the nitty-gritty of a demanding lifestyle brought about by nuclear families and less reliance on family or friends for guidance. Changing lifestyles, mobility of the workforce, absence of work-life balance is adding to the psychological woes among the IT workforce community. A global working environment and cultural changes have led to the removal of traditional cultural barriers to accessing psychological support.

Consequences of psychological distress

Any emotional distress can lead to change in attitude and behaviour, including lack of motivation and erratic time-keeping. There will be tension with colleagues, decrease in co-operation and in some cases, an increase in tobacco or drink consumption. Other symptoms could be absence due to sickness, decreased work performance—missing deadlines, increased mistakes and accidents, loss of concentration and poor decision-making. “We have seen employees getting distant from their personal lives because of work pressure—long working hours, shifts and work-related stress. Due to monotony at work, people may feel there is lack of growth and career opportunities in the future,” says Prashant Chawla, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Integreon. The IT/BPO industries comprise a young workforce, who lured by attractive career opportunities are forced to leave their homes and families to settle in different places. Adjusting to new locations and living all alone can further fuel the stress level.

"The success of a good manager is measured by his ability to handle frustrations, recognise and deal with his own emotions" - Anuja Mehta Head-HR Tulip IT Services

Ultimately, emotional stress if not rectified at the initial stages will lead to attrition of employees. Anuja Mehta, Head-HR, Tulip IT Services, says, “The cost of losing a good employee is very high. No company can afford to lose good talent unnecessarily. The success of a good manager is measured by his ability to handle frustrations and recognise and handle his own emotions.”

Only in-house support

By and large, companies were only focussed on providing medical insurance and medical policies, neglecting the relevance of psychological support. “Now, it is time for them to concentrate on the psychological well-being of the workforce. With globalisation culture seeping into the corporate world, the IT sector is engaging dedicated counsellors to address psychological problems of their employees,” says Supriya Reddy Ray, Head-Sales and Marketing-India, PPC Worldwide. Companies also have started paying attention to create an environment where the employee can leave aside niggling worries and work in a stress-free transparent environment.

“We can perceive and be affected by other people’s emotional states or moods. If the employee is free from worry about his future and secure in his job, his performance will be good. We organise cricket matches and parties to ensure bonding beyond the office. Spouses of employees are welcomed off-site and encouraged to participate in different activities. This makes a huge difference to the morale of employees,” adds Mehta.

Psychological problems among employees are among the major concerns of organisations, including issues like data security and attrition. “There are multiple options available in the industry today. Therefore, in the race to be the ‘preferred employer’ companies are adopting multiple strategies. Emotional support is one of the important roles in employee retention. It is a corporate responsibility to allow the employee to learn and enjoy work while making contribution to get the best out of them along with respect for each other within the organisation,” adds Chawla. Psychological support is the most important way to sustain employee retention within an organisation. When employees are helped to overcome stress, depression, health disorders and absenteeism is lowered, thus increasing the productivity. These are the important reasons why IT/BPO companies need to focus on psychological support for employees.

Companies believe in a flat organisation, where all employees are treated equal even with different designations. Communication channels need to be open at all times. If employees have any doubt about the future of the company and his own future, he should be able to approach the right authority and voice his concerns. The major fear of any employee is security. “We also have a system where the employees send their problems directly to the MD (Managing Director) and the Head HR through e-mail. We, however, do not encourage anonymous letters or e-mails. Another system which we have initiated is that every team sits with the MD over lunch every six months and during the informal interaction they get an insight into his vision for the company and can align their goals to it,” adds Mehta.

Confidentiality issues

Even if organisations have sophisticated methods and teams to address the emotional woes of people, confidentiality is the key here. “With the extension of working hours, employees would never be able to cope up with work and family commitments. If employees have immense pressure in the office—be it management-related or customer-related, they interact and need to ventilate their distress in confidence. This is where IT companies have failed to provide—confidence listening. These companies may have in-house counselling but it comes under the HR and that inhibits people from letting out their grievances. Employees will be cautious once they are aware that their grievances get reported to the HR,” observes Kalyanasundaram.

IT companies are well aware of this fact, but they are not yet completely open to hiring an external agency that gives foolproof confidentiality. “Since the IT work culture in India is largely influenced by global companies, we are obtaining lot of enquiries on the initiative. We expect to see a good market for this in the near future,” concludes Ray.

ec@expresscomputeronline.com