Nearly 90 percent of Chinese staff in foreign companies suffer
from various types of work-related illness such as burnout, stress,
frustration, loss of sleep, or numbness in the neck and shoulders
after work, a recent survey found.
Of those polled, 15.4 percent said they felt they might break
down and fall seriously ill at any moment. Another five percent
said the pressure on them was so great they thought it might be
fatal, said the survey, conducted by Horizon Research Consultancy
Group, a popular polling research institute in China.
The survey sampled 1,521 employees working for foreign companies
in four big Chinese cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and
Wuhan. Interviews were carried out via telephone, e-mail, fax, or
face-to-face meetings.
Half of the respondents do little physical exercise, and many
complain about working more than ten hours a day, returning home
late at night, and having to work on weekends, the survey said.
Middle-aged, highly paid employees were the most vulnerable
group to work-related illnesses.
A lack of exercise and regular health checks are also reasons
that foreign company employees fall sick, the survey said.
Landing a job with a foreign company, usually with fat wages, is
something that is widely admired in today's tight job market in
China, where millions of university graduates scramble to find a
job.
Horizon analysts said jobs in foreign companies came at a steep
price -- physical and mental health.
Middle-aged staff are more stressed because they also have to
shoulder family responsibilities, in some cases with three
generations living under one roof.
Some employees have an unhealthy lifestyle -- drinking, smoking
and skipping breakfast -- that makes matters worse, the analysts
said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)