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Symptoms include sleepless nights, aggression, over or under eating, memory loss, alopecia and impotence and yet - very little is done to lessen the pressure most project-based IT professionals work under. It's been recognised for a long time that "thought workers" require quiet, stress free environments to perform at their very best. According to Robert Glass, in his paper, Stress Up, Satisfaction Down, (1994) around 40 per cent of software errors are caused by stress and when pressure is intense, as in so many slipping projects, defect counts increase four fold in released products. In the same year, Craig Brod said that "high performance with high technology can exercise a dangerous influence on the human personality... anyone who is constantly working or playing with computers is at risk." But twelve years on; stress is still a major problem in the workplace. "Work stress and related conditions are the second most commonly reported work-related ill-health problems in Great Britain, with an estimated half a million people suffering from stress, anxiety or depression caused or made worse by work," says the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). "I don't think I've ever been on a project that wasn't under pressure to deliver to some arbitrary timescale," says Robert Wallace, contract software designer and programmer. "There seems to be method in calculating the deadlines, but when it comes to it, the mangers have usually stuck a finger in the air without asking the technicians," he adds. Wallace is right to point to schedule pressure as a source of stress. A survey by Applied Computer Research found that more deadlines are established when the project is first proposed than at any other time, and these deadlines are found by asking the business for a delivery date. This might seem sensible at first glance, but just because a client company wants an Eiffel Tower replica in the garden by Saturday's barbecue doesn't mean the local builder can deliver – even if you put him under extreme stress to do so. Such a fact is common knowledge among contract developers but it remains largely unrecognised by project leaders. The HSE is attempting to reduce stress related illness in the workforce by 20 per cent before 2010 (from 2000 levels) and is focussed on management principals requiring "organisations to assess their current state with respect to psychosocial working conditions, to help focus effort on further actions required." The Executive has determined that improvements should be made to the way organisations operate in the following areas: workload, work patterns and the work environment; how much say the person has in the way they do their work; encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided; understanding roles within the organisation and how change is managed and communicated. But Wallace thinks these issues are less important to contractors than to his permie colleagues, and has a defence mechanism. "Working conditions are important, so is the support, but when it comes down to it, if I'm getting the money at the end of the week, I'm happy," he says. Wallace tries to distance himself from poor projects and management. "They pay me to turn up whether they run the project well or not. If they want to make a dog's dinner of it, that's their look-out." When asked if such a situation was stressful, however, Wallace admitted he liked recognition for a job well done and that worry was an ever-present companion. "I have to think about the money when a project is running badly; otherwise I'd get too wrapped up in unsolvable problems. Not getting overly involved is a big benefit of contracting." His doctor might think otherwise, as isolating oneself to simply, "get on with the job," is a symptom of high stress levels. "Men tend to bury their emotions more than women, and may be resistant to change or new technologies," explains Doctor Jane Bradley, GP at a South Devon practice. If you find yourself, working early and/or late, unable to integrate with a team, irritable, and, particularly in men, drinking excessively, then consider a visit to your GP to catch stress early. "It can turn rapidly into depression," she warns. William Knight May 3, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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