Towards a stress-free working environment

Rina Dewi, 36 years old, had been suffering from constant coughing for more than three months. She already consulted different doctors seeking opinions and treatments, but her cough seemed incurable. As an administrative officer at a multinational company in Jakarta, she was desperate. Her constant coughs had caused insomnia and anxiety and as a result, she could not concentrate at work and it started ruining her working performance.

Her supervisor had warned her to improve her working performance. Rina was depressed, worrying that she would lose her job of six years and as a single parent, she needed this job to support her family. Finally she went to another doctor, as her last hope figuring out what had happened to her. Carefully examined her conditions and changes in her life, her doctor’s diagnosed was work stress.

Turned out that four months ago, Rina was promoted to a senior administrative position, supervising three other officers. Her work responsibilities and workload increased, making her to work after office hour. She had problems balancing her workload with her responsibility as a parent. She was reluctant to discuss it with her supervisor as she was afraid that she could be demoted or, even worse, lose her job.

Rina was one of numerous workers worldwide who have to deal with workplace stress. From various surveys conducted in Europe, the United States and Australia, around two third to half of the surveyed workers stated that they have experienced work-related stress. More than 32 percent of workers in Japan reported anxiety and overstress at the workplace; while 20 percent of workers in Korea reported high work-pressures and work-burdens.

Today, many workers are facing greater pressure to meet the demands of modern working life. Psychosocial risks such as increased competition, higher expectations on performance and longer working hours are contributing to the workplace becoming an ever more stressful environment. With the pace of work dictated by instant communications and high levels of global competition, the lines separating work from life are becoming more and more difficult to identify.

In addition, due to the significant changes labour relations and the current economic recession, workers are experiencing organizational changes and restructuring, reduced work opportunities, increasing precarious work , the fear of losing their jobs, massive layoffs and unemployment and decreased financial stability, with serious consequences to their mental health and well-being.

In recent years, there has been growing attention to the impact of psychosocial risks and work-related stress among researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Work-related stress is now generally acknowledged as global issue affecting all countries, all professions and all workers both in developed and developing countries.

Indonesia has put its attention to the mental health through the following regulations:

• The Work Safety Act (Law No.1/1970) as the main law on OSH which includes mental health (article 8, paragraph 1) as one of the factors in health and safety.
• The Manpower Act No. 13/2003 includes overarching provisions on OSH, including mental health (Article 35 paragraph 3, Article 71 paragraph 2c): Every worker has the right to receive protection against safety and health hazards, protection against immorality and indecency, and treatment that shows respect to human dignity and religious values. It also stipulates that every enterprise must apply an OSH management system to be integrated into the enterprise’s general management system.
• The Health Law No. 6/2009 dedicates its article 164-166 for occupational health, stating that occupational health is carried out so that all workers can work in good health without endangering themselves or their community, and to gain optimal work productivity along with the labour protection programme. The Act specifies that every workplace shall provide occupational health services.

In addition to the above legal frameworks, Indonesia ratified the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No 187) in August 2015. As part of the overall National OSH system, Indonesia should continue promoting and enforcing health and safety, including mental health. Prevention of psychosocial hazards should be one of the strategies in improving safety and health of the working environment. It is important as the workplace is at the same time an important source of psychosocial risks and the ideal venue to address them in order to protect the health and well-being of workers.

Click here for further information on the ILO’s application on the stress prevention at work.