Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
MUSCAT: Companies in the Sultanate have been urged to stay committed to employees’ mental health as experts said longer working hours and a hot weather could lead to feelings of frustration arising among workers.
“Daily hassles and obstacles, such as having family or financial problems or getting stuck in traffic can cause stress. Sometimes stress is even expressed through aggressive acts, such as road rage. At other times, it is internalised, which can cause health problems,” noted Omani psychiatrist Dr Hamed Al Sinawi told the Times of Oman (TOO).
Some workers try different means to de-stress, he said, “but others easily fall prey to health problems like anxiety, diabetes and high blood pressure after having internalised tension.”
Expats or locals, who are away from their relatives and face work overload get easily stressed out, mental health experts assert, adding, “Long working hours and hot weather causes frustration, which makes it important for people to know the signs of stress and ways to deal with it.”
“Having a supportive social network, such as friends and family is very important in order to avoid stress, we often ventilate or discuss problems from work with our family and sometime all what we need is to be heard and acknowledged,” Al Sinawi said.
Living with constant stress could increase a person’s risk of dementia. Many studies show a link between work-related stress and Alzheimer’s.
There is no exact data available on the number of Alzheimer’s patients in Oman. Al Sinawi believes that an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people are living with Alzheimer’s in the country.
In-house clinics
A tense worker can take a toll on the overall efforts of a company he or she is working with.
That is why many companies TOO spoke to said they have measures in place to address the difficulties faced among staffers.
At W J Towell—a company of 10,000 employees, including labourers and non-labourers, who toil in real estate, FMCG, automotive, construction, engineering, industry and services sectors—stress management forms one of the core aspects of running a business smoothly.
“For the labour category, we are taking care of their small needs, which makes a big difference to them. For example, we have a team that takes care of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). They actually visit worker’s homes and offer maintenance services. We have rebuilt some homes, which motivates our workers to be more loyal,” Ali Shabaan, general manager, System and Resource Management of the group, told TOO.
W J Towell, he claimed, has rebuilt all its labour camps in the last five years.
“They are like four-star motels. Also, we used to outsource our catering. Now we do it on our own. We have invested in our own people. There is special food for Muslims and non-Muslims in the camps,” he stated.
For non-labour staffers, the company organises and sponsors parties and out-of-Muscat tours.
“We also organise the Towell health week every year where we offer free health check-ups to our staffers and their families. This year, for example, we held a competition for those who have quickly reduced weight. When we started this event, some of the staffers were not even aware that they suffered from hypertension, high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” he added.
To de-stress staffers, Shabaan said the company offers promotions, bonuses that could include an additional salary for one month.
Respect at work
Mental health experts, such as Al Sinawi suggest that workers who do not feel respected at work are at an increased risk of heart disease, which is why having a “clear job description” allows the person to feel more in control of their time so that they can plan their day with little interruptions.
“This way they can avoid stress by achieving their objectives on time,” he stated.
The Swiss Arabian Perfumes Group (SAPG), one of the pioneering perfume manufacturers in the Middle East, tries to pull out its staffers from work-related strain by taking them out for lunch on Saturdays.
“The staffers shared the ups and downs accumulated over a week. We try to increase communication between them and that helps,” Yusuf Radhanpurwala, country manager, Swiss Arabian Perfumes told TOO.
The SAPG official said the bonuses and incentives are part of the work and staffers are also taken out twice a year for long tours.
“We also encourage sports activities among the staffers. Sports and food are the best ways to de-stress,” he added.
Salary on time could be another way of not upsetting the workers.
“We have realised it,” a manger of a cleaning company told TOO. He wished to remain anonymous because he wasn’t authorised to speak with media.
“We make sure the workers get salary on time. If we release salaries a day behind the schedule, they [workers] get upset,” he said.
“We offer bonuses to best workers. It’s always small, but it helps others identify their skills and perform well. We also take them out every Friday evening to Muttrah Corniche. It gives our staffers the opportunity to understand each other and lower stress levels caused from six days of hard work,” he revealed.
In bigger and multicultural organisations, such as Oman Air, stress and its management depends on the nature of work.
From pilots to ground staff, workload meeting strict deadlines could result in unnecessary strain that involves fatigue, exhaustion or a break down.
“We have various courses and stress relief/management exercises, especially for pilots and cabin crew on how to manage their time, remain calm and keep a patient attitude with regards to their daily duties,” Khalid Masoud Al Jadidi, senior officer in the airline’s Media and Communications Department told TOO.
Special programmes
Oman Air officials said there are “special programmes” for other staffers who work in finance, airport operations, administration and in-flight services that help them cope with stress.
“It involves outdoor activities, half-day outings for lunch or evening dinners, team building workshops and exercises, fun filled family gatherings, etc. In addition, there is a special in-house clinic that offers professional psychological consultation and provides stress relief care whenever needed,” Al Jadidi said.
Some of the staffers at Oman Air or any other airline are required to work long hours, sometimes beyond their daily schedules, while some are called from their given days off to report for duty. This can create a lot of uneasiness.
“The company, therefore, pays great attention to staff satisfaction and applies good financial compensation systems, either financial or offering other special benefits, like free travel, discounted fares or extended holidays,” the Oman Air official said.
