In this blog post I would like to highlight that spending 16 years working for different corporates like Axis Bank, Citigroup, Deloitte, TCS give me a lot of understanding how stressful a typical day at work can be. There are many coaches out there that will help you in managing stress, the difference here is I have felt it myself, dealt with it and tried to overcome it. The having gone through the grueling days (and sometimes whole nights) makes me privy to how it feels at a physical, mental and emotional level. I feel this gives me a unique advantage over others who may not have corporate work culture exposure. When you are trying to help someone cope with stress having felt it yourself makes it easier to empathize. You know the time-tested ways you overcome the stress and sometimes just succumb to it. Below are some of the ways I faced stress at the workplace. Please let me know in the comments below what factors cause you stress at work and how do you overcome them. I find the comic strip Dilbert spot on capturing corporate work culture.
- Constant non-negotiable deadlines.
- The Goal post moving or the game itself changes, uncertainty causes a lot of stress.
- The micro aggressions.
- Multiple projects with too little time to give any as to gather any steam. Multi-tasking is the requirement of the day per todays work culture.
- Boss or colleagues not cooperative, office politics, withholding required information for you to perform your duties.
- Noisy work environment making it difficult to focus, I dislike the open office plan.
- Long sitting hours causing back pain.
- Working on weekends becoming BAU rather than on rare occasions!
- Long commute on crowded trains, buses and long traffic jams draining much of your energy.
- Taking a 5-day vacation means huge work pressure before and after and hundreds of emails to read once you are back to work.
The corporate world would like to keep giving fancy names to work life balance the latest being work life harmony. Most companies would have HR send out weekly emails on how to achieve work life harmony. But why do we need guidance from our employers whose immediate interest is to maximize shareholder profits or many times just their own bonuses and paychecks as we have seen through the multiple frauds across industries to fudge numbers to colluding to compromise market competition. Read about the two at the top of my mind: Libor scandal and Volkswagen. If you are interested to know the extent to which corporations go for profits read about PFAS. The per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. Chemically, individual PFAS can be very different. However, all have a carbon-fluorine bond, which is very strong and therefore, they do not degrade easily. The widespread use of PFAS and their persistence in the environment means that PFAS from past and current uses have resulted in increasing levels of contamination of the air, water, and soil. Accumulation of certain PFAS has also been shown through blood tests to occur in humans and animals. While the science surrounding potential health effects of bioaccumulation is developing, exposure to some types of PFAS have been associated with serious health effects.
Some more shockers from our Corporates:
The infamous deadlines excellently illustrated by Dilbert comic: Deadlines must be met even if you flatline. There was an excellent documentary aired on German public state-owned international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) named Burnout – The Truth About Work. When I first saw it in 2022, I shared it many of my friends and family. I am finding it hard to locate it on the internet now. It gives a good perspective of why we have the current state of affairs at our workplace. Another one (see above) on similar lines was released in 2024. The following article in the guardian by Jonathan Malesic is also an excellent read.
Excerpts: Worsening labor conditions, including more emotional intensity and less security than mid-20th-century work, only tell half the story of why burnout is so prevalent in our society. Burnout is characteristic of our age because the gap between our shared ideals about work and the reality of our jobs is greater now than it was in the past. The ideal that motivates us to work to the point of burnout is the promise that if you work hard, you will live a good life: not just a life of material comfort, but a life of social dignity, moral character and spiritual purpose.
I am looking forward to hearing his audiobook ‘The End of Burnout’ on Audible.
Consulting Work culture: The tragic case of Anna Sebastian Perayil, a young accountant who succumbed to work stress is a case in point. Do not let corporate worlds obsession with productivity and success consume you. Money and status won’t bring lasting happiness. Be mindful of the seductive nature of consumerism and the pressure to achieve material wealth. Take out time for yourself and find meaning beyond your career.
I am sure many of us have filled ‘VOE’ surveys hoping things would change, well they do change at the rate of tectonic plates moving across the planet.
Virtual work environments have become the ‘new normal’, however having friendships at work is important for success: Building work friendships can protect against burnout and make you more productive.
When you consult me for better health all my corporate work experience would come in handy in me providing strategies to overcome stress, anxiety, incorporating exercise and healthy eating habits in between the daily demands of your job.