Stress in the Middle East is the biggest health risk to the work force, according to a new study. In the Persian Gulf region, along with North Africa and other Arab states, the issue of stress in the work environment remains the biggest health risk, according to a study by global professional services company, Towers Watson.
The disappointing results of the study were released on Saturday. It was conducted over a period of several weeks and interviewed business across the Middle East in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt.
The issue of stress is so common in workplaces in the Middle East that it still, according to the study, is considered a “hidden” issue and is mostly not acknowledged by employers.
Meanwhile, the Arab media have quoted one of the directors at the firm that carried out the study as saying that until now stress has not been widely acknowledged as a serious issue for employers. “This may be partly because employees are reluctant to formally report feeling under pressure, and also partly because stress is rarely in itself categorized as a cause of medical claims,” said Steve Clements.
The study states that some of the main factors that contribute to stress in the work environment were uncertain or contradictory job expectations and insufficient staffing.
Another factor to stress at work, the report stated included erosion of work-life balance, particularly through technologies that need workers to be on hand even after working hours.
The report also showed that in the Middle East, in places like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar which were considered “wealthy countries” lacked the basic strategies that encouraged healthy behavior at work for employees.
“The majority of firms, 75 per cent, say that they do not have a concrete health strategy, yet find that 76 per cent of them have an individual programs [to] tackle the health and productivity issues,” said the study.
Although the fresh report highlighted the growing issue of stress in the Middle East, the issue has for years tarnished the image of wealthy oil-producing and exporting countries.
Stress in the work environment is a global problem according to observers, but in the Middle East because of the lack of expertise the issue is mostly downplayed by employers.
