The Right Blend

Work-life integration is definitely the new route for tomorrow, and it is high time everybody jumped on the bandwagon.

- Asif Upadhye

In the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2016, work-life balance statistics in India has been rated among the worst. Pick up the survey reports from any daily and the one aspect of work-life that has been excruciatingly highlighted in the last couple of years is ‘work stress’. According to a World Health Day report by ASSOCHAM in 2015, 42.5% of corporate employees in India suffer from stress.

Medically identified as ‘occupational stress’, the feeling of uneasiness stems from our inability to manage priorities better. Working late nights to meet commitments, feeling obliged to communicate even during vacations, and wading through demanding work schedules, we have always been aware of the work pressure that has existed. But when the very same work pressure transcends into stress, leading to an array of health issues, it is beyond repair time to address the elephant in the room.

Today, with the facility of instant connectivity, we have allowed our personal and professional lives to entwine in a web of opportunities. Challenges intrigue us and routine makes us feel stagnated. And in a situation like this, attempting to craft a single approach that caters to every individual’s need within an organisation is a doomed attempt right from the start.

It all begins with denial 

First, the seed of restlessness is sown. Consuming more than needed cups of caffeine or chai. Followed by body aches and mild irritation that trail you like a caterpillar. It then slowly evolves into anger tantrums and insomnia, causing sudden outbursts of migraines and anxiety. Eventually, the moth of depression flares its mighty wings and overpowers our sense of sanity.