| Before the summer of 2000, the 54 year
old John Haughom could accomplish just about any thing at work. "I could move
mountains if I put my mind to it."he says of those days. But that summer Haughom
found he couldn't move them any more. On the phone with his wife one morn ing,
Haughom broke down. A couple of days later Haughom checked himself in for a
three-week stay at the Professional Renewal Center, an in-patient clinic 30
miles outside Kansas City that helps him deal with stress. Haughom is far from alone. A host of new studies and plenty of anecdotal evidence show that stress in the workplace is skyrocketing. Whatever the cause, stress levels are at record highs. The statistics are startling. According to a new study by the federal government's Nation al Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, more than half the working people in the U.S. view job stress as a major problem in their lives. This year the European Community officially dubbed stress the second-biggest occupational-health problem facing the continent. Ten years ago experts warned that stress was out of control, in part because of a shaky economy. What's notable about today's wave of stressed-out workers is that it rises all the way to the top. Lack of control is generally considered one of the biggest job stressors, so it used to be thought that middle managers carried the brunt: sandwiched between the top and the bottom, they end up with little authority. Powerful chief executive officers (CEOs) were seen as the least threatened by stress. But in today's tough economy, top executives don't have as much control as they used to. "Stress is just part of the job, fortunately or unfortunately, stress'is part of our character building," Lebenthal says. "But I think I don't need any more character building. What I need is a vacation." But if you think that going on vacation is hard—and studies show that 85%of corporate executives don't use all the time off they're entitled to. Being able to handle stress is perhaps the most basic of job expectations. So among the corporate elite, succumbing to it is considered a shameful weakness. Stress has become the last affliction that people won't dare admit to. Most senior executives who are undergoing treatment for stress—and even many who aren't—refused to talk on the record about the topic．"Nothing good can come out of having your name in a story like this," one CEO said through his therapist. |