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STRESS LEVELS

Thai business leaders' stress level ranked fifth in the world

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Business leaders around the globe have a plenty of reasons for stress, but a survey show Thai business leaders lag behind only those in Greece, China, Taiwan and Vietnam in terms of stress levels.

According to global research of 6,000 businesses from the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), levels of stress felt by business leaders globally have shown their lowest annual increase since 2005. Yet, over the past 12 months, 55 per cent of Thai business leaders reported an increase in stress, compared to 67 per cent in Greece, 60 per cent in China, 57 per cent in Taiwan and 56 per cent in Vietnam.

"Many of the interviews were undertaken in November whilst Thailand was suffering from devastating floods so the increase from the net 10 per cent observed in 2010 is understandable," said Ian Pascoe, managing partner of Grant Thornton Thailand.

The survey showed that in 2010, net 45 per cent of business leaders reported an increase in stress levels over the past 12 months, but this fell to just 28 per cent in 2011. And the pattern is consistent around the world; net 21 per cent of business leaders in North America cite an increase in stress in the last 12 months, compared with 35 per cent in 2010. Asia Pacific is the most stressed region with net 44 per cent reporting an increase in stress over the past 12 months, but this too is down from 58 per cent in 2010. Even in distressed Europe, where the focus of economic turbulence resides, the net increase in stress has declined from 40 per cent in 2010 to 22 per cent in 2011.

"As the economic crisis has continued, the majority of business leaders have learnt to better manage the challenges they are facing, including dealing with stress by adjusting to more realistic performance measures and goals. This is just as true in the booming BRIC economies as in troubled Europe," Poscoe added.

Globally 62 per cent of respondents play sport to relieve stress. Other popular ways of relieving stress are entertainment both in (54 per cent) and out (46 per cent) of the home. Delegating work and keeping a regular working pattern (both 35 per cent) are also cited by businesses.

However, the IBR indicates that just 42 per cent of business leaders take a holiday to relieve stress, behind exercise/playing sports (62 per cent) and entertainment in home (54 per cent). A correlation of the number of holidays and stress confirms that those countries where businesses take the fewest holidays - such as Japan, mainland China and Thailand - report the biggest increases in stress. Conversely, business leaders in the Netherlands, Russia and Denmark took the most days off in 2011 and reported the lowest increases in stress.

To relieve stress, business leaders in Thailand play sport/exercise (33 per cent), access entertainment in (32 per cent) and out of (23 per cent) the home. Just 18 per cent take a holiday. Indeed, on average, business leaders in Thailand took just 8 days holiday over the past 12 months, behind only Japan (5 days), and mainland China (7 days).

-- The Nation 2012-02-03

[dddave]

Not surprising considering the method Thais often use to solve "business conflicts". I'd be stressed to.

[kennalder]

What a load of crap!

The headline says Thai business leaders stress level ranked 5th in the world. This implies an absolute ranking of current stress levels. The body of the story talks about year over year change only.

If you start with no stress, it is easy to show a big percentage increase.