UNIT 6
WORKPLACE STRESS
VOCABULARY
1.In each of the numbered sentences (1–6) there is one word which is wrong. Correct the mistake.
1.I’ve decided to give up my job in the city and move to the country. I’ve been completely stressed outwards and it is damaging my health.
2.I’m so overemployed that I am too tired to sleep at night.
3.That is why I am going to change my lifestyling.
4.I want to spend some qualification time with my family.
5.Lots of people in London are thinking about backshofting.
6.They are looking for a life that is unstrainful.
2.Choose the best word from the brackets to fill in the gaps in each sentence.
1.I don’t like working … stress (under / behind / over).
2.My doctor said my illness was stress – … (induced / involved / input).
3.I don’t think I can deal with the stresses and … (stretches / strains / surges).
4.He had a … breakdown last year but he is much better now (nerve / nervy / nervous).
5.I have to get out of the rat … before I am burned out (cage / race / trap).
6.This job is so competitive I feel as if I’m on … (timeframe / treadmill / sweatshop).
READING
Discuss these questions.
1.Do you think technological developments always make life easier?
2.Can the use of modern technology cause stress? Why / Why not?
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Read the two articles from the Financial Times.
Article 1: Technology – Helpful or Stressful?
Early morning in California, and Elizabeth Safran, a public relations consultant, is dealing with a huge number of e-mails. Everybody in the small company works from home and relies on email and instant messaging to stay in touch. Elizabeth worries about her work-life balance and thinks that technology «makes us more productive, but everybody is working all the time – weekends, evenings. It's too much». Five o’clock Friday afternoon in the UK, Paul Renucci, a managing director of a systems integration company, switches off his computer. He now works at home and is off to pick up his children.
In the past, it would take him two hours to get home from the office. MsSafran and MrRenucci represent different sides of a modern problem: the capabilities of the latest communications technologies, such as e-mail, text, instant messaging and videoconferencing, make it difficult to draw the line between work and leisure and raise important questions about the nature of «flexible working» – where employees can work where and when they choose.
There are three issues here. Firstly, does the rise of portable, networked devices such as the Blackberry and Palm Treo really damage an individual’s work and life? Secondly, what is the effect of these devices on traditional workplace relationships? And third, how do individuals manage them?
A Microsoft survey found that where flexibility had increased, so had productivity and employee morale, together with lowered stress levels and staff turnover. However, individuals can suffer technology-related stress as work moves into their free time and from the complexity of the gadgets they must use, such as mobile phones where manufacturers try to persuade customers to upgrade more frequently.
From the Financial Times
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COMPREHENSION
1. Are the statements true or false? Explain your answer.
a)The staff in Elizabeth Safran’s company all work in the head office.
b)Elizabeth is happy with the way she works.
c)It takes Paul Renucci a long time to get to work.
d)It is sometimes hard to separate work and free time.
e)Technology means that people can work wherever they want.
f)A Microsoft survey reported that everyone benefits from flexible working.
g)Technology can be stressful for individuals.
2.Use a word or expression from the article to complete the sentences.
a)_____________________ If a company depends on someone, it r… on that person.
b)_____________________ When you ask someone to stay in t…, it means you want to see or speak to them again.
c)_____________________ F…w… describes when you can work where and when you want.
d)_____________________ If you can carry a piece of equipment, it is described as P…
e)_____________________ A d…….. is a small machine which helps you do something.
f)_____________________ Everyone needs to do more work – the company wants to improve p…
g)_____________________ The way staff feel about the company and their work is described as staff m…
3.Translate the article in writing.
4.Make a review of the article.
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Article 2: Investors are Turning up the Heat on Stress
By Alison Maitland
Workplace stress is attracting shareholders' attention. In a report, Henderson Global Investors, which manages £66.5bn s ($117bn) of assets for individuals and institutions, asks companies to do more to deal with the causes of stress and reveal its costs.
A survey of 22 leading UK companies finds that most companies recognise stress as a potential risk to workers’ health, but more than one-quarter have no system to assess this risk. Stress has become the biggest cause of sickness absence in Britain. It accounted for 36 per cent of days lost in 2013/14.
Jane Goodland, the author of the report, says Henderson wants to understand how companies in which they invest are tackling this issue. She believes that preventive approaches to stress management can lead to business benefits. To highlight the potential costs to individual companies, Henderson created two models – one for the transport and communications sector and another for the retail sector. It calculates the cost of stress-related absence in the transport and communications sector at £18m to £24m a year for a company with 100,000 employees. A retail company of the same size can expect annual costs of £5m to £6m. Previous research shows that larger workplaces appear to experience more stressrelated absence per employee than smaller ones.
The ВТ group has recognized the seriousness of the problem. ВТ reports that 40 per cent of its work-related ill health is due to stress and mental illness. It has reduced sickness absence and saved costs in three ways: by reducing the sources of stress; identifying early signs; and helping individuals who are suffering or recovering from stress.
From the Financial Times
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COMPREHENSION
1.Are the statements true or false? Explain your answer. a) Assets are things of value which belong to a company. b) If you reveal something , you hide it from someone.
c) When you assess something , you calculate the value of it. d) Absence means sickness.
e) If you are tackling a problem , you are dealing with it.
f) When you want to stop something from happening, you take preventive action. g) If you highlight something , you draw attention to it.
h) The source of a problem is the result of the problem.
2.Number the paragraph headings in the correct order.
a)One company's method of decreasing absence and costs.
b)Majority of companies are aware of the problem.
c)Examples of savings which could be made.
d)Companies should tell investors the cost of stress.
e)Companies who deal with stress will have advantages.
3. Translate the article in writing.
4. Make a review of the article.
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