The Hindu : Front Page : Work no worship for stressed out souls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005

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Front Page

Work no worship for stressed out souls

Sandhya Soman

An online suicide helpline is flooded with mail from IT/BPO employees

CHENNAI: The shifts are taking their toll on their lives, if e-mails to an online suicide helpline are anything to go by.

Those employed in the Information Technology/business process outsourcing sectors are increasingly mailing to help@snehaindia.org about their 18-hour-shifts and lives that leave no time outside their air-conditioned workspace.

The e-mail service, started by Sneha three months ago, has so far received about 150 e-mails from stressed out IT and BPO personnel, says director P.V. Sankaranarayanan. About 20 per cent of the mailers talk about how "life is worthless" and why they want to end it. "They are angry, frustrated and depressed. They don't even get time to talk it out with their family or friends because of the night shifts and work pressure," says Mr. Sankaranarayanan. The pressure builds up, leading to flare-up and messy emotional lives and interpersonal relations. Most of them, who just want to let it all out, find the anonymity of e-mailing convenient. Volunteers mail them back, performing an online counselling service, much like Sneha's telephone outreach programme. However, there are also those who seek solutions from Sneha volunteers, who check the mails, to set right their haphazard lives. According to Mr. Sankaranarayanan, they are the ones who have realised that work is eating into their lives.

T.K. Pandian realised this in 2000. He decided to call it quits after he went through counselling sessions and was treated for various ailments. "I was working 18 hours a day and did not get time to focus on my family, especially children," says the 38-year-old IT-professional, who is now an independent consultant.

He recalls the experience of a female colleague whose marriage ran into trouble after her husband from the same profession started talking about shifting base. "She was very depressed and wouldn't talk about it. One day she had a breakdown."

Mr. Pandian says the IT/BPO sector has become competitive and demanding in the last two years after foreign companies moved in, forcing the Indian competitors to offer 24-hour support to their clients abroad. "It is not just long working hours for the employees but variable salaries as well."

The helpline now has "repeat mailers," who are regularly in touch with the volunteers, says Mr. Sankaranarayanan.

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