Feb 16, 2006
By Elaine Ruzul S. Ramos
FILIPINO business owners have the third highest stress levels worldwide, apparently as a result of greater competition, a study says.
Indeed, 76 percent of the Filipino respondents reported an increase in their stress levels last year compared with only 53 percent in 2004, according to the survey results released by accounting and tax advisory firm Punongbayan & Araullo, a member of Grant Thornton International.
More than 7,000 business owners in 30 countries participated in Grant Thornton’s 2006 International Business Owners Survey, where 57 percent of the respondents reported higher stress in 2005 against 39 percent in 2004.
And for the second year in a row, Taiwan came out as the most stressed out country, with nine out of 10 business owners there reporting an increase in stress. Mainland China came in a close second with 87 percent.
“Stress levels continue to climb around the world, and when you look at the reason behind this, you’ll see that it’s a double-edged sword,” says P&A chairman and chief executive Ben Punongbayan.
“Executives feel the stress whether economic activity is picking up or slowing down in their respective countries. They feel the pressure of generating business amid a slump, and on the other end of the spectrum, they also feel the pressure of having to cope with fast-growing businesses and markets.”
The study also shows a direct correlation between stress and the number of holidays — excluding public holidays — taken by executives around the world. It says most business leaders in East Asia suffered from higher stress in 2005, possibly as a result of poor holiday allowance.
Filipino business owners, on average, took only 12 days off last year compared with the 22-day average taken by executives in Europe. Not surprisingly, Europeans were the least stressed out business people last year.
“It would be interesting to look further into this direct link between stress and holiday patterns and figure out if executives are less stressed because they take more vacations, of if they take more vacations because they feel less stressed,” says P&A managing partner and chief operating officer Greg Navarro.
The other factors contributing to higher stress in some countries include business travel and fears over job security.
Business travel was most stressful for Indian executives, with 41 percent claiming it was very or extremely stressful followed by the Philippines (22 percent), Botswana (21 percent), and China (20 percent).
Japan and Thailand jointly topped the league for concerns over job security, with 49 percent of their respondents claiming it was a high or extreme factor.
The least stressed about job security were the executives in Sweden (7 percent) followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Singapore (9 percent), the study says.
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