What?s on everyone?s mind? Downsizing, layoffs, mergers and bankruptcies, costing hundreds of thousands of workers across the world their jobs and leading to stressful situations in the workplace. In ACAS (the arbitration and conciliation service) annual report, which was released on Friday, the latest figures from the employment relations service show that it received more than 78,000 conciliation cases from the Employment Tribunal Service. And it is almost a fifth more than last year, warning the severity of the recession across the UK employment landscape. According to another research by Aviva Risk Management Solutions in June, 13.5 million working days were lost in 2007-08 due to work-related mental
health problems.
Office is all about work, bosses, colleagues and the cafeteria. Can something ward off the negative vibes? Rahul Razdan, Head of Gaming and Communication, ibibo.com, informs, ?There is stress in corporate life. To keep it at bay, people play a lot of social games online through web browsers that don?t require extra software. Word games are popular as well. Employees keep a window open specifically for games. Two online games that we had launched recently have got satisfactory responses. While the movie-guessing game, Hangman, has received 70,000 challenges, for Alike, a social quiz-based game 5,000 people have generated 3,00,000 challenges,? he adds.
?The witch is here!? Remember that instant message flashed to everyone?s terminal through intranet the moment Sandra Bullock enters her cabin in The Proposal? It almost uncannily mirrors what many of us perhaps do in our offices.
Gossiping is now a stress-buster in most corporate spaces. Many believe different kinds of gossiping may sound dissimilar but it creates a sense of oneness among a group of employees. In the e-world, gossip is hardly done face to face. It?s done mostly through chit-chatting on MSN messenger or Google Talk etc. ?Discussing the boss, a colleague, another department behind their back is a way of sharing informal vibration with one another at the workplace. It acts as a stress healer in the office. For instance, whenever a junior person gets a negative feedback from the boss, tensions reduce the moment it is shared with buddies offline or online,? shares lawyer Matrugupta Mishra.
Razdan explains, ?Reaching out to friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues is a must do in the networking world.? Either about what friends are up to, any new travel plans, photos/status messages uploaded or simply scribbling on each other?s walls. But some corporate offices offer limited access to the internet. Shradha Swain, Brand Services Manager at a multi-national agency says, ?A lot of big corporate houses block networking and chat sites. But many people stay connected to the internet through their cell phones.?Find a form of entertainment you love and you?ll never get bored at work, say experts. As Saurabh Bhatia, MD, of an online and mobile video monetisation player, Vdopia, says, ?I take a 10-minute break to watch online videos. Metacafe and YouTube are my favourites.? Is there a hint here to go online and venture out? Maybe, yes.