Health hazards executives face
Dr S. M. Bose

Young executives, men and women, are all over. They can be found in offices, call centres, banks, commercial and corporate offices. They can be easily identified by their smart attire, peculiar tone, a laptop hanging from shoulders, a mobile phone glued to ears and perpetually seem to be in a hurry. While they may have a good financial status, yet their health — both physical as well as mental — is definitely a matter of concern.

Working conditions: Things look rosy from outside but going into the details one realises the truth. The workstation is 50 sq. feet. A large number of employees can be found sitting in a big hall. They are constantly under watch by colleagues and superiors, who are either sitting in the same hall or in a nearby cubicle. They work for 10 to 12 hours a day and remain glued to their PCs or headphones. The monitor is not at eye-level, the chair does not have the correct curvature. The net result is perpetual neck and back pain.

Medically constant sitting is not advisable and one must frequently get up, straighten oneself and walk around. This is advisable for long distance travellers also.

The offices are air-conditioned, artificially lit and there is no provision for fresh air and natural light. If any executive gets an infection, like a cold and cough, then it affects other others in the office. God forbid, if anyone gets something like a swine flu, then one can easily guess the miserable condition of all.

These executives often carry laptops, which they tend to use in trains, buses, airplanes or even while sitting on the ground. The posture that their backbone takes cannot be approved by any medical personnel. Call centre employees are the worst-affected. They are unable to give rest to their vocal cord as they have to remain glued to their headphones-cum-mikes. The conversation is always not cordial and, at times, they have to listen to high-pitched insulting voices. MNC call centres work during the night to match the morning hours of America and Canada. One does not have to think far to guess the condition of a married person with children at home. Their marital lives must be taking a heavy beating, particularly for working women. These executives do not have time to look after the basic necessities of the house, their own children or old parents at home.

Sedentary lifestyle: Life is very stressful; they constantly work for 10 to 12 hours with a break of half to one hour for meals or washrooms. Most of the employees have to start at least one to two hours earlier to reach the office, which may be 10 to 25 km away and late on duty means deduction of salary. Similarly after the duty hour, most of them reach home one to two hours later. These executives are also under tremendous mental stress as competition is intense and one has to meet the target. The whole world has appreciated the benefits of jogging, walking, gymnasium, sports and yoga etc. but for a majority of these executives. These are forbidden as they hardly get any time for these activities. I see no reason why a corporate office cannot make available a club premises for their staff where these young executives can have a quick game of badminton or squash, have a gym workout or refresh themselves in the swimming pool.

CEOs and MDs do realise the necessity of these activities and a few firms pay for the membership of one or two clubs for their very senior executives but then for the junior ones this realization does not exist. My apprehension is that by the time these young executives reach the positions of senior ones, their health will crumple and at that time their club membership will be good only for cards or drinks.

No time for leisure: The only source of entertainment is the few official or personal parties which start around 10 p.m. and go up to the early morning hours. Most of the participants get drunk, sleep for three to four hours only, take a few tablets of aspirin to fight the hangover and rush back to their offices.

Nutrition and diet: Pizza, pasta, burgers and such other junk foods are their staple diet, practically for all four meals. The monthly sale of Domino’s Pizza in Sector 34, Chandigarh, is staggering 7.5 lakh per month; and majority of the consumption is by these executives.

In conclusion, these highly accomplished and trained young men and women are our national treasure; they have brought recognition and respect for our country. Looking after them in totality and more particularly for their health should be the joint responsibility of all — the government, the corporate sector, the near and dear ones, and more importantly the executives themselves.

This requires a change in the attitude of the presidents and directors of the corporates. There needs to be a ban against working for more than 40 hours a week. In developed countries, a person is not encouraged to work after the office hours or on holidays; he is supposed to be slow or inefficient in case he does this. This will allow them time to do what they want to do, spend quality time with family and friends and may pursue some hobby. The dagger of completion of target in time should be also removed; this will definitely lessen the mental burden. It seems the offices are mostly understaffed and hence failure to finish the job in spite of long working hours. Remember the old saying — health is wealth and deterioration of health will definitely bring down the work efficiency of anyone. Let us be alive to this risk factor.