Skip to main content

Let's (try to) define work load-pressure-stress

Workload, work pressure, workplace stress might sound similar and people use them interchangeably, but I'm here to argue that it should not be done. TL;DR usually more workload leads to work pressure, high work pressure leads to workplace stress, and chronic stress creates a relationship and even health problems.


The workload is the only neutral word here, what is 'neutral' about it? Unless you explicit qualify it like "I have high workload" or "I am getting so much free time these days since my workload has been reduced"; you can't tell for sure if it demands increased effort from the employee. 

Let's discuss work pressure; a short burst of high workload, work that is out of your comfort zone, or time-bound steep targets - all defines work pressure. If it is rare and rewarding it tends to put the career on fast-track, and this is what we usually hear from talent managers. Often work pressure is continuous and the deadline is almost always out of reach; this kind of setup might demotivate or make one feel they are underpaid; some disgruntled members can be seen in Reddit boasting their story on r/ProRevenge.

 High work pressure experienced by a weak soul, which neither has support channel nor has the strength to hit back starts getting stressed. This stress created in their workplace slowly starts to creep into their personal life and will ruin relationships and health of the individual. It is very important for the organization to safeguard their employees from being stressed, the modern-day firms have understood this well. Most organizations encourage team activity outside office and recognition programs to boost the morale of herd. Thus, I rest my case to distinguish workload, work pressure and workplace stress.

 Back story, a colleague complained that she didn't get individual recognition but the team she leads won 'Best Team' award; like most other management ours also spread the award - so many people get recognized. This meant few superstars were overlooked for multiple awards. You ask about me? I got the promoted recently, ours is an organisation that wants to please all at this point of time, I believe my name was stuck down as soon as it came up; at least that is the story I tell myself, helps me sleep better o.O Imagine being stressed about a rewards program, that is put in place to nip off work pressure before it evolves into stress, it is anti-climatic that she is stressed about joy; if only people can share with the world.

 Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corporate_Woman_Being_Stressed_at_Work.svg
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular this month

Puththu kovilum Putho tilesum, as they are built

Its the grand Aadi season here in Tamil Nadu wherever you go you'd be followed by awful noise from no mercy speakers masqueraded as a devotional song. Yes, this is the first post dedicated to it. Hindu is not a religion but it's idealism, a way to unite people, that's perfectly constructed by assuming separate task to every God, no single God worship. Hindus moved from nature worship to idol worship, but that doesn't mean that we don't have nature worship we have created an idol for them and continued to worship them in a different form. Snake is a beautiful reptile, I have made friend with few too... Our ancestor found the natural law, 'every living creature on earth is important for the ecosystem to be balanced'. Maybe to make sure snakes are not killed fearing their venom they made them as God too! Not just idol snakes, they are worshipped as they are at their  conquered (from rats and termite)   nest or  puthu . Puthu as it used to be in open
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Up and Close with Sudalai Madan: The Encounter

Night of 13th April all the preparations for the rituals were done in the temple, Sudalaimadan swamy was decorated with flowers, fruits and coconuts; the dedications reached above his chest. My cousin Sudalai Muthu, senior priest of the shrine reached home by late-night got blessings of his father Late Shanmugam Sundaram also previous head priest and blessed the family members in room dedicated for God, then started towards the temple. People have already gathered in huge numbers and were waiting for the Sudalaimada Swamy's arrival at Temple. Different rituals were offered by people to the Lord in order to get the blessings. As it is believed Sudaimada Swamy, the son of Lord Siva used to consume meat in Kailash for this reason he is sent to earth, where he can satisfy his earthy hunger thereby not polluting Kailash. Sree Aaladi Padmanabha Sudalaimada Swamy Temple, Kumarapuram Offering meat to Sudalaimadan is the most important and watchful event of the festival. Many devotees off
Post a Comment
Expand post »

It doesn't have to be crazy at work

It doesn't have to be crazy at work, is the book with that title. The title is almost clickbait, but the gist is printed straight up on the cover of the book; they didn't even wait for the blurb. Jason Fried, the CEO and David Heinemeier Hansson, the CTO of 37Signals (formerly Basecamp) co-authored this book. This book was gifted to me by whom I'd consider to be a mentor because he caught me working "crazy at work", it is rare to see such people who are more inclined to see you as a person instead of a number, he seemed to have taken guidelines from this book to heart, and I'd say it is a good change in this cut-throat corporate. This is yet another book discussion, it is almost as if I am picking books to only learn and not review them; I'm not a reviewer, and I do not have any affiliate account setup that will earn me commission; I'm just going to discuss the ideas that I grasp from the books I read, on to the book The book is about how crazy the wor
Post a Comment
Expand post »

The Difficulty of Being Good

This is not a book review, rather a discussion or an elaboration of what I understood from this book. The author, Gurcharan Das starts by claiming that his path to this book was rather unintentional since he was only trying to settle into his " Vanaprastha " life. He discusses the  goals of life and how every stage of life connects with many goals at the same time. Head on from chapter 1, we dive into the core of the book, "Dharma" the main goal of a good life well-lived apart from 'Moksha'. The best thing about the book is that the chapters are arranged such that Mahabharata's chronological narration is undisturbed, chapters are character-centric and thus dharma is approached from various points of view and Mr. Das never stops throwing questions at us and subtly answering them.  This book could not have come to me at a better time, I considered it non-intrusive advice from an elderly vanaprastha. The sub-text gives away the plot, almost, "The subt
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Product of Govt. aided School, but does it matter?

I started my work life in an MNC, Tier 1 IT service provider. I worked with clients directly since I was able to understand and speak their 'accent'. My second employer is an Italian bank where both my Indian and Italian colleagues praised my spoken, never mind that I almost always fail to communicate. It is funny that I picked up the accent from American sitcoms and cartoons and didn't undergo any sort of training.  I can hear you say "stop this nonsense bragging blog", I will after I manage to sell you the idea 'schooling is important, but schools or education boards are not'.  But why now? why not 2011? when I got the job and the girl? Probably that is the highest point in my life why was not be boastful then! why now? - Again I'm not boasting I'm only trying to convince myself and you, of course. This idea had its inception long back, 2007 was my first year of college I was considered to have a fairly high standard of communication skill in c
Post a Comment
Expand post »