Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION & CURRENT SCENARIO: .........................................................................................8 DEFINITION: ................................................................................................................................................... 10 TYPES OF STRESS ......................................................................................................................................... 10 GOOD STRESS V/S BAD STRESS............................................................................................................. 13 MYTHS ABOUT STRESS: .......................................................................................................................... 16 CAUSES OF EMPLOYEE STRESS .......................................................................................................... 18 STRESSORS- WHAT? WHERE? WHICH? ............................................................................................. 20 EFFECTS OF STRESS ON AN INDIVIDUAL .................................................................................... 24 CONSEQUENCES OF UNMANAGED STRESS ..................................................................................... 25 REMEDIES TO REDUCE STRESS ......................................................................................................... 27 CASE STUDY 1- CALL CENTRES ........................................................................................................... 32 STRESS IN CALL CENTRES .................................................................................................................... 33 FOUR KEY STRESSORS ............................................................................................................................... 34 HUMAN ISSUES IN CALL-CENTRE ........................................................................................................ 38 IMPORTANCE OF A COUNCELLOR IN A CALL CENTRE ....................................................... 40 BASIS OF MEASURES TAKEN FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT ...................................................... 43 STEPS TAKEN BY CALL CENTRES TOWARDS EMPLOYEE STRESS .................................. 46 CALL CANTRE MANAGEMENT REACTION TO STRESS MANAGEMENT......................... 49 CASE STUDY 2- INFOSYS ........................................................................................................................ 51 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................................................. 53

INTRODUCTION & CURRENT SCENARIO:

20th century has been regarded as the period of incredible change in human history. Philosophers and scientists have been various names to this period. Peter Drucker has called it The Age of Discontinuity, John Galbraith has called it The Age of Future Shock and Hari Albrecht called it The Age of Anxiety. Stress has become the 21 century buzz word, from the high pervading corporate echelons to the bassinets of teaching infants nurseries we find this world liberally used. Stress is part of modern life. Various events in life cause stress, starting with the birth of a child and enduring with the death of a dear one. Urbanization, industrialization and the increase scale of operations in society are some of the reasons for rising stress. It is an inevitable consequence of socio-economic complexity and to some extent, its stimulant as well. People experience stress as they can no longer have complete control over what happen in their lives. The telephone goes out of order, power is shut down, water supply is disrupted, children perform poorly at school etc, we feel frustrated and then stressed. The word stress is derived from a Latin word stringere, meaning to draw tight. From the view point of physical sciences, the phenomena of stress are evident in all materials when they are subjected to force, pressure, strain or strong-front. Every material steel, rock or wood has its own limit up to which it can withstand stress without being damaged. Similarly human beings can tolerate certain level of stress. Stress is highly individualistic in nature. Some people have high levels of stress tolerance for stress and thrive very well in the face of several stressors in the environment. In fact, some individuals will not perform well unless they experience a level of stress which activates and energizes then to put forth their best results. For every individual there is an optimum level of stress under which he or she will perform to full capacity. If the stress experience is below the optimum level, then the individual gets bored, the motivational level of work reaches a low point and it results to careless mistakes, forgetting to do things

and thinking of things other than work during work hours and also leads to absenteeism which may ultimately lead to turnover. If on the other hand, stress experience is above the optimum level, it leads to too many conflicts with the supervisor or leads to increase of errors, bad decisions and the individual may experience insomnia, stomach problems, and psychosomatic illness. The present world is fast changing and there are lots of pressures and demands at work. These pressures at work lead to physical disorders. Stress refers to individuals reaction to a disturbing factor in the environment. It is an adaptive response to certain external factor or situation or what can be called environmental stimuli as reflected in an opportunity, constraint, or demand the outcome of which is uncertain but important. In short stress is a response to an external factor that results in physical, emotional, behavioural deviations in a person. Stress is an all pervading modern phenomenon that takes a heavy toll of human life. Different situations and circumstances in our personal life and in our job produce stress. Those can be divided into factors related to the organization and factors related to the person which include his experience and personality traits. Job related factors are work overload, time pressures, poor quality of supervision, insecure political climate, role conflict and ambiguity, difference between company values and employee values. Person related factors are death of spouse, or of a close friend, family problems, change to a different line of work, prolonged illness in the family, change in social activities, eating habits, etc., A lot of research has been conducted into stress over the last hundred years. Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others are still being researched and debated. During this time, there seems to have been something approaching open warfare between competing theories and definitions: Views have been passionately held and aggressively defended. What complicates this is that intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have all experienced. A definition should therefore be obviousexcept that it is not.

DEFINITION:
Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of stress research. His view in 1956 was that stress is not necessarily something bad it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental. Selye believed that the biochemical effects of stress would be experienced irrespective of whether the situation was positive or negative. Since then, a great deal of further research has been conducted, and ideas have moved on. Stress is now viewed as a "bad thing", with a range of harmful biochemical and long-term effects. These effects have rarely been observed in positive situations. The most commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S Lazarus) is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize. In short, it's what we feel when we think we've lost control of events. The stress response inside us is therefore part instinct and part to do with the way we think.

TYPES OF STRESS
Mechanical Stress (physics), the average amount of force exerted per unit area. Yield stress, the stress at which a material begins to deform plastically. Compressive stress, the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction

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Biological Stress (biological), physiological or psychological stress; some types include: Chronic stress, persistent stress which can lead to illness and mental disorder Eustress, positive stress that can lead to improved long-term functioning Workplace stress, stress caused by employment

Music Accent (music). Stress (band), an early '80s melodic rock band from San Diego. Stress (punk band), an early '80s punk rock band from Athens. Stress (Neo-Psychedelic band), from the late 1980's. Stress, a song by the French band Justice on their debut album

Other Stress (game), card game Stress (linguistics), phonological use of prominence in language Stress (physics), the average amount of force exerted per unit area.

Stress is a measure of the average amount of force exerted per unit area. It is a measure of the intensity of the total internal forces acting within a body across imaginary internal surfaces, as a reaction to external applied forces and body forces. It was introduced into the theory of elasticity by Cauchy around 1822. Stress is a concept that is based on the concept of continuum. In general, stress is expressed as

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Where Is the average stress, also called engineering or nominal stress, and Is the force acting over the area .

Chronic Stress Chronic stress is stress that lasts a long time or occurs frequently. Chronic stress is potentially damaging. Symptoms of chronic stress can be: upset stomach headache backache insomnia anxiety depression anger

In the most severe cases it can lead to panic attacks or a panic disorder. There are a variety of methods to control chronic stress, including exercise, healthy diet, stress management, relaxation techniques, adequate rest, and relaxing hobbies. Ensuring a healthy diet containing magnesium may help control or eliminate stress, in those individuals with lower levels of magnesium or those who have a magnesium deficiency. Chronic stress can also lead to a magnesium deficiency, which can be a factor in continued chronic stress, and a whole host of other negative medical conditions caused by a magnesium deficiency. It has been discovered that there is a huge upsurge in the number of people who suffer from this condition. A very large number of these new cases suffer from insomnia.

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In a review of the scientific literature on the relationship between stress and disease, the authors found that stress plays a role in triggering or worsening depression and cardiovascular disease and in speeding the progression of HIV/AIDS.

Compressive stress: Compressive stress is the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction (decrease of volume). When a material is subjected to compressive stress, then this material is under compression. Usually, compressive stress applied to bars, columns, etc. leads to shortening. Loading a structural element or a specimen will increase the compressive stress until the reach of compressive strength. According to the properties of the material, failure will occur as yield for materials with ductile behaviour (most metals, some soils and plastics) or as rupture for brittle behaviour (geometries, cast iron, glass, etc). In long, slender structural elements -- such as columns or truss bars -- an increase of compressive force F leads to structural failure due to buckling at lower stress than the compressive strength. Compressive stress has stress units (force per unit area), usually with negative values to indicate the compaction. However in geotechnical engineering, compressive stress is represented with positive values.

GOOD STRESS V/S BAD STRESS

Stress refers to the strain from the conflict between our external environment and us, leading to emotional and physical pressure. In our fast paced world, it is impossible to live without stress, whether

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you are a student or a working adult. There is both positive and negative stress, depending on each individuals unique perception of the tension between the two forces. Not all stress is bad. For example, positive stress, also known as eustress, can help an individual to function at optimal effectiveness and efficiency. Hence, it is evident that some form of positive stress can add more color and vibrancy to our lives. The presence of a deadline, for example, can push us to make the most of our time and produce greater efficiency. It is important to keep this in mind, as stress management refers to using stress to our advantage, and not on eradicating the presence of stress in our lives. On the other hand, negative stress can result in mental and physical strain. The individual will experience symptoms such as tensions, headaches, irritability and in extreme cases, heart palpitations. Hence, whilst some stress may be seen as a motivating force, it is important to manage stress levels so that it does not have an adverse impact on your health and relationships. Part of managing your stress levels include learning about how stress can affect you emotionally and physically, as well as how to identify if you are performing at your optimal stress level (OSL) or if you are experiencing negative stress. This knowledge will help you to identify when you need to take a break, or perhaps seek professional help. It is also your first step towards developing techniques to managing your stress levels. Stress has often been misunderstood to be negative, with few people acknowledging the importance and usefulness of positive stress. In our everyday lives, stress is everywhere and definitely unavoidable; hence our emphasis should be on differentiating between what is good stress, and what is bad. This will help us to learn to cope with negative stress, and harness the power of positive stress to help us achieve more. There are 4 main categories of stress, namely eustress, distress, hyper stress and hypo stress. Negative stress can cause many physical and psychological problems, whilst positive stress can be very helpful for us. Heres how we differentiate between them.

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Eustress: This is a positive form of stress, which prepares your mind and body for the imminent challenges that it has perceived. Eustress is a natural physical reaction by your body which increases blood flow to your muscles, resulting in a higher heart rate. Athletes before a competition or perhaps a manager before a major presentation would do well with eustress, allowing them to derive the inspiration and strength that is needed.

Distress: We are familiar with this word, and know that it is a negative form of stress. This occurs when the mind and body is unable to cope with changes, and usually occurs when there are deviations from the norm. They can be categorized into acute stress and chronic stress. Acute stress is intense, but does not last for long. On the other hand, chronic stress persists over a long period of time. Trigger events for distress can be a change in job scope or routine that the person is unable to handle or cope with.

Hyper stress: This is another form of negative stress that occurs when the individual is unable to cope with the workload. Examples include highly stressful jobs, which require longer working hours than the individual can handle. If you suspect that you are suffering from hyper stress, you are likely to have
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sudden emotional breakdowns over insignificant issues, the proverbial straws that broke the camels back. It is important for you to recognize that your body needs a break, or you may end up with severe and chronic physical and psychological reactions.

Hypo Stress: Lastly, hypo stress occurs when a person has nothing to do with his time and feels constantly bored and unmotivated. This is due to an insufficient amount of stress; hence some stress is inevitable and helpful to us. Companies should avoid having workers who experience hypo stress as this will cause productivity and mindfulness to fall. If the job scope is boring and repetitive, it would be a good idea to implement some form of job rotation so that there is always something new to learn. The types of stress are named as eustress and distress. Distress is the most commonly-referred to type of stress, having negative implications, whereas eustress is a positive form of stress, usually related to desirable events in person's life. Both can be equally taxing on the body, and are cumulative in nature, depending on a person's way of adapting to a change that has caused it.

MYTHS ABOUT STRESS:

Six myths surround stress. Dispelling them enables us to understand our problems and then take action against them. Let's look at these myths. Myth 1: Stress is the same for everybody. Completely wrong. Stress is different for each of us. What is stressful for one person may or may not be stressful for another; each of us responds to stress in an entirely different way. Myth 2: Stress is always bad for you. According to this view, zero stress makes us happy and health. Wrong. Stress is to the human condition what tension is to the violin string: too little and the music is dull and raspy; too much and the music is

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shrill or the string snaps. Stress can be the kiss of death or the spice of life. The issue, really, is how to manage it. Managed stress makes us productive and happy; mismanaged stress hurts and even kills us.

Myth 3: Stress is everywhere, so you can't do anything about it. Not so. You can plan your life so that stress does not overwhelm you. Effective planning involves setting priorities and working on simple problems first, solving them, and then going on to more complex difficulties. When stress is mismanaged, it's difficult to prioritize. All your problems seem to be equal and stress seems to be everywhere.

Myth 4: The most popular techniques for reducing stress are the best ones. Again, not so. No universally effective stress reduction techniques exist. We are all different, our lives are different, our situations are different, and our reactions are different. Only a comprehensive program tailored to the individual works.

Myth 5: No symptoms, no stress. Absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of stress. In fact, camouflaging symptoms with medication may deprive you of the signals you need for reducing the strain on your physiological and psychological systems.

Myth 6: Only major symptoms of stress require attention. This myth assumes that the "minor" symptoms, such as headaches or stomach acid, may be safely ignored. Minor symptoms of stress are the early warnings that your life is getting out of hand and that you need to do a better job of managing stress.
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CAUSES OF EMPLOYEE STRESS

Organization can and should manage the stress experienced by, their employee. Although no method can be guaranteed to reduce stress, because of its highly individual nature certain strategies can help to manage stress. But first the causes of employees stress must be identified. The conditions that tend to cause stress are called stressors. Stressors generate from various sources:

1) Organizational stressors The stress that an employee experience on the job may be something outside his or her immediate work life such extra organization source of stress could include family problems, personality of individual, marital problems, health etc. a) Type A and Type B personality One approach personality definition suggests that the type A personality respond with more agitation to stress than type B personality. Type A people are aggressive and competitive, set standards, are impatient with themselves and others and thrive under constant time pressure. They often fail to realize that many of the pressures they feel are of their own making rather than products of their environment. Because of constant stress that they feel, some type A persons are more prone to physical ailments related to stress such as heart attacks. Type B people more relaxed and easy going. They accept situation and work within them fight them competitively; Type B people are especially relaxed regarding time pressures. So they are less prone to the have problems associated. b) Health as a factor Although stress may contribute to health problems, the status on an individuals health may influence a persons reaction to stress. Studies have shown for example that anxiety levels seems to be higher in individuals with health problems than in individuals who are in good health cause and effect
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sequences are not always clear but it has been shown that people in good health act likely to maintain low heart rates under stress than the individuals in poor physical conditions. c) Impotence of concept The esteem with which an employee regards himself or herself may also influence an individuals response to stress. Normally, the individual who possess a positive self concept will find stressors less threatening than with the individuals with a low self perception. d) Experience with family If experience with family or friends are supportive and constructive, the individual who is exposed will be react favorably to stressors, while individuals who have primarily, non negative experience with family or friends will find stressor to be more destructive and upsetting. Family and friends can act as a source of support to sustain and encourage when threats come along. At the same time unsympathetic, indifferent relatives and peers can weaken and, make an employee vulnerable to the pressure in the work place. Absence of encouraging relatives and friends can result in lack of support during the period of stress e) Age and education Although age and the level of education of an employee have been researched less than most other factors, it is felt that the factors do have an influence on individuals response to stressor. Studies conducted in same year ago, for example, suggested that people in same age groups are more likely to develop high blood pressure when stressors are applied. Education can either benefit or handicap. The highly educated individual in a job demanding highly polished skill and technical abilities may respond well to stressors, while under prepared individual might crumble and the pressure. Of course it is possible to be over educated for some jobs a factor that could result in increased pressure. The lack of challenge can result in boredom, which may result in stress.

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STRESSORS- WHAT? WHERE? WHICH?

Stressors are around each of us most of the time. A negative stressor is any condition or a circumstance than an individual encounters that seems to threaten the physical or psychological well being of the individual. In Holmes and Rah rating scale, the impact death of ones spouse is calculated to have the biggest impact. However it can be noticed that the positive events, such as vacation, Christmas etc are treated as stressor on scale. In fact anything that causes a jolt to an individual, whether negative or positive, contributes to stress.

Events Death of spouse Divorce Marital separation Personal injury or illness Marriage Retirement Pregnancy Change in financial state Change to a different line of work Son or daughter leaving home Outstanding personal achievements Change in work hours or condition Vacation

Stress points 100 73 65 53 50 45 40 . 38 36 29 28 20 13

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1)Individual level stress The individual stress level involves sources of stress that are found at the person-job interface. The most common of these problems is known as role overload which occurs when an employee is simply has too much work to do or is under extreme time pressure. Often management can cause stress. Another common individual source of stress is role conflict, which occurs when employees various on the job responsibilities conflict with each other. For example if two supervisors assign task to an employee performing once of them may make it impossible to accomplish the other. In situations of this type people have different expectations of an employees activities on a job. So the employee doesnt know what to do and cannot meet the expectation. Conflict may arise if employees are required to do thing that go against their personal values and morals Third common source of individual level stress is role ambiguity, which occurs when the job itself is not clearly defined. Because employees are unable to determine exactly what the organization requires from them, they worry constantly about whether their performance is adequate. Managers often suffer from role ambiguity Work schedule, too, can cause stress. Rotating shift is especially stressful, as the constantly changing schedule makes both social and physiological adjustment nearly impossible. Following figures shows how shift work can cause stress both directly through physiological processes and indirectly through its effect on family life. Another cause of stress is frustration. It is a result of a motivation being blocked to prevent one from reaching a desired goal. Reactions to frustration are known as defense mechanism. One of the most common reactions to frustration is aggression. Additional reaction includes apathy, withdrawal, regression, physical, disorders, etc.

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2) Group level stressors Stressors at group level generally involve social pressures. The first such stressor is felt when the individual is a member of an in cohesive work unit, disagreement and division among the employees peers can be distracting and emotionally fatiguing. A lack of group support can also add to the overall level of stress. Finally, conflicts between groups or departments can be stressor because such conflicts create additional work and worry for individual.

3) Organizational level stressors Stressors at the organizational level involve variables in the climate and structure of the company: rules and regulations, extent of centralization, distribution of power, management style and openness of communications. The design of the individuals work space can also heighten or relieve stress. Working in a crowded or unpleasant area could create more stress. A final organizational stressor may be technology, the machines and processes used to perform a job. Although designed to make a job simpler, a machine can also be stressor.

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ORGANISATIIONAL STRESSORS A. Role in the organization Role ambiguity Role conflict Too little management support Holding a middle management position

B. Relationship With superiors With subordinates With colleagues Inability to delegate

C. Physical environment Working conditions like temperature, noise, lightning, crowding, privacy etc.

D. Job qualities Quantitative overload/ under load Quantitative overload/ under load Time pressure Responsibility for things/ people Work pace

E. Organizational structure Lack of participation No sense of belonging Poor communication

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Lack of opportunity Hours of work

F. Career development Status incongruity Under promotion Over promotion Obsolescence

EFFECTS OF STRESS ON AN INDIVIDUAL

Physical Effects

Increased heart rate and blood pressure Sudden increase or decrease in weight Change in Appetite Frequent headaches, fatigue and respiratory problems Nervous weakness (biting nails, too mucg sweating) Insomnia Reduced immunity to common colds and flu Ulcers and weak digestive system

Psychological Effects

Difficulty in concentrating Unable to spend leisure time productively Always anxious Bad decision making Mood Swings Increaased usage of food, drugs, alcohol and Cigarettes Developing fears and phobias Feeling out of control and confused

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CONSEQUENCES OF UNMANAGED STRESS

We all know that stress is something that doesnt feel good to us physically and emotionally. What is even more compelling is what happens below the surface each time we experience stress. Stress researcher Hans Selye, determined what happens internally each time we experience something as threatening or stressful. According to Selye, when we perceive a threat in the environment the thinking part of the brain sends an alarm message to the nervous system via the hypothalamus. The nervous system then makes changes in the body that prepare you to handle the perceived danger ahead. These changes include increases in heart rate and blood pressure as well as pupil dilation. In addition, there are hormones and chemicals secreted such as adrenaline, that give the body the necessary push to be able to manage the threat ahead. Although there are situations in which these adrenaline surges are very helpful in helping us mobilize, the constant adrenaline surges due to repeatedly perceived threats, have a toxic effect on the body. For example, recurrent adrenaline surges inhibit some of the other important functions in the body including growth and tissue repair, digestion and the immune response. Just as the thinking part of your brain is responsible for turning the stress response on, you can turn it off by changing the threatening appraisals you are making. Once you are able to determine that a threat does not exist or that it can be effectively managed, your thinking brain stops sending panic messages to the nervous system. As a result of this reappraisal, the hormones and chemicals cease to be released and the body returns to normal. Bringing the body back to an "un-stressed" state is very important since almost every system in the body can be damaged by stress. Although our bodies are adaptive and can recover from periodic stressors, chronic stress has serious consequences. We experience the consequences of stress on three important levels; physically, emotionally and behaviourally. What follows is a description of the specific consequences in these three categories: Physically, the body is likely to develop a stress-related disease as a result of the stress toxins that are released. For example, chronic stress can lead to cardiovascular disease by elevating blood pressure, damaging the heart and arteries and increasing blood sugar. Respiratory conditions such as asthma and

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bronchitis can result from stress-triggered changes in the lungs. When stress inhibits the bodys digestive functions, diseases such as ulcers, colitis and chronic diarrhea can occur. In addition, stress contributes to inhibited growth of tissue and bone which can lead to decalcification and osteoporosis. The immune system is also inhibited by the reduced efficiency of the white blood cells, making the body more susceptible to disease. Increased muscle tension, fatigue and headaches are additional consequences of chronic stress. The second category of consequences of chronic stress is the emotional consequences. Depression can result form chronic stress due to the constant release and depletion of norepinephrine. What also contributes to the depression is the thought that life is terrible and that it is never going to get better. What then results is a feeling of helplessness and ineffectiveness, feeling like a failure and a reduction in self-confidence. Individuals who are depressed are also likely to withdraw from relationships and isolate themselves which often increases the intensity of the depression. In addition, anxiety and fearfulness are commonly felt emotions if someone constantly perceives threats around the corner. In addition, individuals who are chronically stressed are likely to exhibit increased cynicism, rigidity, sarcasm and irritability since they believe that their situation is not likely to improve. Chronic stress also has significant behavioural consequences. Behavioural consequences often result from innate survival urge we have to seek relief, to fight or to flee. Unfortunately, these reliefseeking behaviours eventually become problematic. For example, "addictive behaviours" can result from the repeated efforts to soothe or escape the painful stress. Alcohol, drugs, smoking and overeating are often seen as tools to help manage the stress even though their effects are short lived and the consequences of chronic use are destructive to the body and mind. Unfortunately the minds ability to deny the long-term consequences in order to fill short-term need to escape perpetuates the problem and increases excessive use behaviour. Similarly, procrastination, poor planning, excessive sleeping and avoidance of responsibility are examples of behaviours used by stressed individuals to temporarily flee from the pain. What is most significant about these behaviours is their ability to generate additional problems that are as severe as the original stressor. For example, procrastination or avoidance of the

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management of a stressor only serves to increase anxiety and exacerbate the stress experience. Stress consequences reviewed above suggest that in addition to being physically and psychologically distressing, they reduce the likelihood of effective goal reaching. Rationale for properly managing and coping with the stress is for health protection in future as well as making present more productive and satisfying.

REMEDIES TO REDUCE STRESS

There are two major approaches to reduce stress. They are, Individual approaches Organizational approaches

INDIVIDUAL APPROACHES An employee can take individual responsibility to reduce his/her stress level. Individual strategies that have proven effective include, implementing time management techniques, increasing physical exercise, relaxation training, and expanding the social support network.

1) Time management Many people manage their time very poorly. Some of well known time management principles include, Making daily list of activities to be accomplished Scheduling activities according to the priorities set Prioritizing activities by importance and urgency

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 Knowing your daily cycle and handling the most demanding parts of your job.

2) Physical exercise Practicing non-competitive physical exercises like aerobics, race walking, jogging, swimming, and riding a bi-cycle.

3) Relaxation training Relaxation techniques such as meditation, hypnosis and bio-feedback. The objective is to reach in state of deep relaxation, where one feels physically relaxed, somewhat from detached from the immediate environment. Fifteen or twenty minutes a day of deep relaxation releases tension and provides a person with a pronounced sense of peacefulness.

4) Social support Having families, friends or work colleagues to talk provides an outlet, when stress levels become excessive. So expand your social support network that helps you with someone to hear your problems.

ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACHES Several of the factors that cause stress particularly task and role demands and organizations structure are controlled by management. As such they can be modified or changed. Some of the strategies that management want to consider include improved personal self section and job placement, use of realistic goal setting, redesigning of jobs, improved organizational communication and establishment of corporate wellness programmes.
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Organizational coping strategies are more proactive nature that is they attempt at removing existing or potential stressors and prevent the one set of stress of individual job holders. Following are organizational coping technique and efforts. 1) Supportive organizational climate Many of the organizational stressors emerge because of faulty organizational processes and practices. To a very great extent, these can be controlled by creating supportive organizational climate. Supportive organizational climate, as discussed later, depends upon managerial leadership rather than the use of power and money to control organizational behaviour. The focus is primarily on participation and involvement of employees in decision making process. Such a climate develops belongingness among people which helps them reduce their stress. 2) Job enrichment A major source of stress is the monotonous and disinteresting jobs being performed by employee in the organization. Through more rational designing of jobs, as discussed earlier, jobs can be enriched. Improving content factors such as responsibility, recognition opportunity for achievement and advertisement, or improving core job characteristics such as skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback may lead to motivation, feeling sense of responsibility, and utilizing maximum capability at the work. Such a phenomenon helps in reducing stress. 3) Organizational role clarity People experience stress when they are not clear about what they expected to do in the organization. This may happen because either there is ambiguity in the role or there is role conflict. Such a situation can be overcome by defining role more clearly. Role analysis technique helps both managers and employees to analyze what the job entail and what expectations are. Breaking down the job its various components clarifies the role of the job incumbent, for the entire system. This helps to eliminate imposing unrealistic expectation on the individual. Role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload can be minimized, consequently leading to reduced stress.

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4) Career planning and counselling Career planning and counselling helps the employees to obtain professional advice regarding career paths that would help them to achieve personal goals. It also makes them aware of what additional qualifications, training and skills they should acquire for career advancement. A variety of career counselling programmes can be adopted: a) devises designed to aid the individuals in selfassessment and increased self-understanding: b) devises designed to communicate opportunities available to individuals: c) career counselling through interviews by mangers, counselling professional s and personnel and educational specialists: d) workshops and educational activities designed to assist the individual in goal setting and establishing action plan for change: e) educational and experimental programmes to prepare individuals with skills and knowledge for new activities and new careers; f) programmes for enhancing the individuals opportunities to make job and career changes. Various career planning and counselling programmes for individuals go a long way in providing them satisfaction and reducing the stress.

5) Stress control workshops and employee assistance programmes The organization can hold periodical workshops for control and reduction of stress. Such workshops may individuals to learn the dynamics of stress and methods of overcoming their ill effects. Similarly, the organization can make arrangement for assisting individuals in overcoming their personal and family problems.

6) Participative decision making If the organizations give the employees participation in those decisions that directly affected them and their job performance, it can increases employee control and reduce the stress.

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7) Building team work The management should try to create such work environment in which there is no provision for interpersonal conflict or intergroup conflict. Such conflicts are causes of stress; such should be prevented from building or eliminated if they develop.

8) Improved communication Sometimes due to lack of effective communication from the superiors, the employees do not know what they have to do and how they have to do it. This results in role ambiguity.

9) Redesigning job Organization should redesign the jobs in such a way as to employees more responsibility, more meaningful work, more autonomy and increased feedback. This will help reduce the stress caused by monotony, routine work, and work overload or under load and role ambiguity.

10) Goal setting Based on extensive amount of research it has been concluded that individuals perform better when they have specific and challenging towards those goals. Goal setting can reduces stress as well as provide motivation. It will result in less employee frustration, role ambiguity and stress.

11) Personal wellness programmes These personal wellness progarammes focus on the employees total physical and mental condition. Organizations can provide facilities at their premise for physical fitness such as gyms,

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swimming pools, tennis courts etc. as well as psychological counselling. They should hold seminars or workshops to make the employees understand nature and sources of stress and the possible ways to reduce it. These workshops should help those individuals who are already under stress.

CASE STUDY 1- CALL CENTRES

Call centres are becoming increasingly popular in today's business, where many companies have centralized customer service and support functions. Call centres are generally large offices with representatives who either make or receive phone calls. Depending on the type of work, call centres may have a single office employing a few people or large office with thousands of employees. The main activity in some call centres is answering inbound calls, such as a bank that gives out a toll-free

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number for customers needing help. At the same time there are some call centres that focus on outbound calls too. With increase in outsourcing, call centres are also becoming popular. By way of outsourcing, companies contract out some functions to other companies located mostly in cost effective destinations like India. In this field India enjoys several advantages over a number of developed counties. In India, we a have large pool of qualified people; English speaking graduates and IT professionals. In addition to this India have some other advantages like cheap labour, flexibility in working hours and time zone difference. This is the reason why a number of MNCs are outsourcing their business activities to India. Call centres are comparatively a recent introduction to the world of career options in India. The career avenues provided by Call centres is one of the best suited and growing option which even a fresher can opt for. With the opening up of the Indian economy and the advent of globalisation more and more companies from abroad are basing or outsourcing their call centre services to India, a trend started by GE when it established a call centre near New Delhi in 1998. Call centres exist in all sectors of business including banking, utilities, manufacturing, security, market research, pharmaceuticals, catalogue sales, order desk, customer service, technical queries (help desk), emergency dispatch, credit collections, food service, airline/hotel reservations etc. The wide area of services provided by the call centres makes it a lucrative career with a range of opportunities.

STRESS IN CALL CENTRES

Stress exists in every call centre. Call centres are stressful work environments. The demands of serving the customer in real-time helps to lay the foundation. Add to this factor things such as job repetition, potential job dissatisfaction, poor ergonomics or low pay and the stress level climbs higher. If stress in the workplace (i.e. the call centre) is not on the agenda the results of stress are revealed through higher absenteeism than other parts of the company, higher Worker's Compensation claims and ultimately in reduced customer satisfaction. This Operations Topic focuses on various
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approaches to managing stress. Raising the pay isn't necessarily the solution. There are many other creative means of managing stress in your call centre.

Factors that Create a Stressful Call Centre: Emotional Labour Stress Levels, Staff Turnover Customer Centric Attitude and Stress

FOUR KEY STRESSORS

1) - Can we get off the phone for a while? The primary source of stress reported is inherent to the nature of the job: spending all day on the phone dealing with people one after another, day after day, is difficult. Doing it under constant pressure to keep call volumes up, with no time between calls to recover from an awkward call or from customer rejection is even more difficult. And doing it with very little authority or autonomy to rectify problems that arise is perhaps the most difficult of all. Many studies report agents as wanting to just get off the phones. For example, Belt and colleagues note agents in all three sectors [financial services, IT, and third-party services] spoke of the phenomenon of burnout, caused by the pressure of working exclusively 'on the phones' . The issue of burnout was also recognized by some managers: It was pointed out that managers face an inherent conflict between the need to reduce staff boredom and labour turnover, and the pressure to concentrate staff energies on telephone based work. Tricks to circumvent control mechanisms, such as those discussed above are sometimes

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mentioned as attempts at stress reduction, although they are unreliable in this role as they may also increase stress. Others mention social interaction squeezed into brief moments like using humorous (or rude) gestures towards the phone, or making faces at colleagues to defuse stress over angry or abusive callers, and making jokes to combat the tedium of the day. More formally, some call centres include stress management as a component in training programs, and many have, or claim to have, team debriefings which permit staff to vent frustrations while discussing difficult calls or dissatisfactions with elements of work.

2) Quality/Quantity Conflict Typically, organizational rhetoric in inbound call centres is concerned with customer care, or keeping customers happy (providing quality service), yet these goals are juxtaposed with an ongoing pressure to keep call times down and call volumes up. Call centres are rooted in contradictory tensions and structural paradoxes, and confront a number of trades-offs on that basis. These set a context for attitudes towards the organization and can impose conflicting role requirements on agents. A core example is that of the pressure for quantity versus the aspiration for quality, the guiding logic of which is the puzzle of trying to get closer to the customer while routinising, centralizing, reducing costs and prescribing standards. The dichotomy is not completely straightforward, it is important to note. Part of providing quality service from a management perspective is making sure customers do not wait too long for their calls to be answered, even though the push to keep queue waiting times short is typically categorized as part of the pressure towards quantity. Efforts to attain what is perceived to be the desired balance between the quantity and the quality of calls presents a perennial challenge. The practice of ongoing work practice modification and target revision as management swings from one side to another of the quality/quantity debate is a major source of stress for call centre agents. As Houlihan notes: The practice of putting a drive on particular targets for improvement (for example, the collection of renewal dates, the upselling or cross-selling of products, the quality of data input, or the intensity of
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sales push) and continual reprioritisation means that the goalposts are constantly shifting. Virtually all of the call centre authors who write about work conditions mention the difficulty of dealing with these competing goals.

3) Intensity The third central stressor in call centre work is its intensity. There is widespread consensus that call centres are a new, and particularly effective, manifestation of the increasingly capital intensive industrialization of service sector work, and work performed in them is highly intensive and routine. Its almost like the army. Its much regimented. You punch in with a time clock. You come in and you sit down, and the numbers are all computerized. As soon as you finish a call, the minute you hang up another call comes up just this constant, all day, repetitiousconstant sort of like beating on a drum, but day after day. The pace of work is determined by the combination of technologies that deliver calls to the headset and account details to the screen, and workers often have no control over this process. Descriptions such as exhausting, robotic, controlled, and agents discussing the nature of their work often use machine-like. Call centres are information handling organizations. As currently characterized, the job of the agent is to be the voice of the organization, interfacing with the client or customer. The organization rehearses the things it wants said and feeds them through the agent. The agent is largely constructed as a mouthpiece rather than as a brain. When this feeling of being a cog in a machine which never stops as it grinds on, repeating the same actions over and over again, is combined with the cumulative emotional demands presented by the interpersonal nature of the work, stress is inevitable.

4) Targets There is a fourth feature of some call centre work that may engender stress: performance targets. There are various types of targets, which may vary between inbound and outbound centres.
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Inbound centres typically have targets for call duration, wrap time, and daily call volume. Outbound centres often also have sales or completion targets, which are closely monitored and upon which pay may be partially based. In addition, in some sectors, inbound call centres are attempting to introduce the practice of cross selling, where agents attempt to sell additional products to the customers who call in for another purpose. In these centres, sales targets similar to those in outbound centres are often in place. Sales targets, in particular, are difficult to accept, or meet, for staff who often consider themselves as service personnel, particularly when they are set centrally and implemented locally: Cross-selling is seen by employees, not as an opportunity to engage in creative work, but as an additional and acute source of pressure. This is especially the case when sales targets are parachuted in on top of service targets set originally when there was no pressure to produce sales. Even in centres that claim not to prioritize targets, researchers have found that staff often feels significant pressure. Targets simply intensify the stress produced by the quantity/quality debate, or, as one agent is quoted as saying, They say that theyre not really interested in numbers. They say that they are more into quality. Well, thats a lie. Theyre usually more into numbers than anything. It is important not to over generalize however. While most call centres do have some targets, they are a source of stress that is directly under management control. Some call centres are managed in such a way that targets are set to realistically reflect local conditions, are interpreted in light of other, more subjective information, and are not used punitively or to intensify work. In some they are even used effectively to motivate and encourage staff. For example, Lankshear and Mason describe a series of conversations with managers in their call centre site where management consistently conceptualized their performance reports (for example, one commented that its human nature for productivity to drop before and after a holiday), and used their stats as an excuse to praise good performance and coach those who consistently had difficulty meeting targets: Our best bet is to develop the people we have got one manager is quoted as saying.

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HUMAN ISSUES IN CALL-CENTRE

For many employed in call centre sector, daily experience is of repetitive, intensive and stressful work, based upon Taylorist principles, which frequently results in employee burnout. Brown characterizes work as repetitive brain strain. These descriptions are hardly surprising, in a way, given that call centres are established by organizations to create an environment in which work can be standardized to create relatively uniform and repetitious activities so as to achieve economies of scale and consistent quality of customer service. In other words, that workplaces are organized in ways that weaken employee autonomy and enhance potential for management control, and a loss of control is generally understood to be an important indicator of work-related stress. There is almost universal consensus that call centre work is stressful. Even in studies that report the observation that some staff actually enjoys their work, mention of stress is still the norm, and a significant portion of the call centre literature is devoted to detailing the sources of stress in call centre work.

Other Health issues The result of intense, stressful work may be an effect on workers health. There are often high rates of absenteeism and sick leave reported in the literature, although there is relatively little exploration of these issues, particularly when compared to turnover. Most often, authors provide a brief list of known health issues. For example, Richardson, Belt and Marshall write that Health concerns have been expressed, including tension, sleeplessness, headaches, eye-strain, repetitive strain injury (RSI), voice loss, hearing problems and burnout, but they do not develop the point.

Sleeping Disorders : No prizes for guessing the most severe ailment afflicting people working in Indian call centres. Since this is a unique Indian problem, again, no solution appears in sight. Obviously this affects first timers more severely, as they take time to acclimatize their biological clocks, but even experienced people or
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managers are not able to completely escape from it. Some call centres are looking at devising innovative mechanisms like flexible shifts with sleeping arrangements in the office premises as possible solutions.

Digestive System Related Disorders: Working long and odd hours without any sleep, and eating food supplied by external caterers everyday, has led to 41.9% of the respondents suffering from digestive problems. Especially for the large number of girls working in the industry, the problem is even more severe. Many call centres are now taking additional care to ensure their caterers supply hygienic food; besides stipulating strict conditions to maintain the quality of the food they serve.

Depression: Not surprising, since, as the industry matures, the initial glitz and glamour wears away and the real problems come to the fore. Not only are there several health related issues, but, on top of that, the gradual realization that there is limited scope in developing a career owing to fewer growth opportunities is increasing the frustration levels. Coupled with growing mental fatigue and increasingly punishing physical environments, depression is the obvious end result. Some call centres have now devised different stress management programs mainly to counter depression.

Eyesight Problems: Globally call centre industry employees are considered a high-risk group for eye related problems. While the quality of monitors might impact these disorders, sitting continually without adequate breaks seems to be the truer reason. The number of people affected seems to be on the rise-last year only 19%

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complained; this year it has gone up to 23%. At some point of time, this problem might also afflict the IT services industry, but for the call centre industry, no remedy seems to be in sight.

Ear Problems: More than 16% of the respondents inform that they have hearing problems. Again, no surprises here, since a call centre job involves taking calls throughout the shift, sitting with headphones. While quality of headphones does make a difference, it would not be correct to completely wish the problem away by thinking that changing headphones will solve it.

Some other Human Issues, in Call-Centres, which need Immediate Attention Personal habits: The young executives are getting more than five figure salaries per month in an early age. They tend to develop certain bad habits such as alcohol, smoking etc. It is not easy to identify such individuals. It is also very sensitive to talk to them. The professional counsellors can conduct group-counselling, workshops, educative film shows in order to create awareness on effects of bad habits. Such actions will enable individuals to realize the importance of good habits and they could seek one to one

IMPORTANCE OF A COUNCELLOR IN A CALL CENTRE

Discipline and behavioural issues: Call centres provide excellent working environment, free food and transportation. There is always a situation where individual or group of youngsters tend to commit mistakes and abuse the freedom. They start behaving like in college campus where they have more

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freedom. However, the call centre executives have more responsibility and accountability, they need to follow discipline and do well in the job. The most common behaviour is misuse of food, behave erratically in vans, and smoke in public places, misuse of telephones and other resources of the company. The supervisors always concentrate on performance and achieving targets. They do not have time or interest to go deep into these matters and find out the reasons for such behaviour. The professional counsellor can play a major role in educating the youngsters on discipline; provide advice to erring executives. The counsellors with their wisdom and experience can tackle such issues tactfully and bring change within the individuals. As said earlier, to majority of them this is the first employment and they are fresh out of the colleges. Few tend to behave differently and they have the do not care attitude. Such executives will not take their job seriously, they indulge in teasing, and joking, talking over mobile phones, have friction within the team. These aspects may go noticed or unnoticed by the supervisors. The fact remains that such unacceptable behaviours will cause disturbance to others and overall it affects the productivity. Sleeping while on duty, reading novels and playing games on the computer during working hours brings down productivity and quality suffers. The HR representatives and professional counsellors jointly have a role to bring behavioural change starting from the training days. Continuous education and Counselling will help to mitigate such problems and it is possible to prevent serious problems.

Inter-personal relationship and friendship: Executives develop friendship quickly and sometime the friendship breaks and there will be misunderstanding among the team members and naturally affects the team performance. The supervisors and counsellors can play a major role to sort out the interpersonal relationship and develop team spirit. Healthy relationship among the team members has always helped the team to out perform. When the relationship fails the individuals will also break down mentally. They either absent for duties or fall ill or the performance will come down. It is also true that due to misunderstanding and break in friendship they change jobs quickly.

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Love affair and marriages: Few of the boys and girls fall in love quickly. They maintain the healthy relationship, behave in a matured manner, plan the future course of action and such persons have got married with the consent of their parents. They work together in the same organization for longer duration. There are instances, where lovers fall apart, start disliking, creating troubles to each other and vitiating the atmosphere. They are immature, take instant decisions to break or unite and sometimes go to an extent of damaging others reputation. The professional counsellors can play an important role in explaining the importance of marriage, preparation required for marriage, how to enter the institution of marriage, which is acceptable to both parents and society and about the new role and responsibility after getting married. Counselling services can definitely give emotional support to individuals.

Absenteeism: Absenteeism is very high in calls centres. Employees tend to be very irregular to the duty due to various reasons. Professional counselling services to such irregular employees on one to one basis will help to bring down absenteeism. Counsellor can educate and explain the importance of attending duties to earn salary and also to meet organizational goals. Each individual are unique and the problem they face are also different in nature. Professional counsellors can understand, analyze and provide long lasting solutions for the individuals.

Higher education and part time jobs: It is possible to do higher education while working in BPO units. Few organizations encourage and offer support services to pursue higher education. However, time management by the executives is crucial to go forward in education as well as to maintain performance and career growth. Programmes on time management, tips to study, tips to keep fit and such other programmes can be offered. These steps would help to seek the loyalty of employees to organizations and helps greatly for retention of
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employees. Organizations do not grant permission to pursue part time jobs while working in BPO units. In order to make quick money and to have options open to change jobs in future will drive employees to do part time work. Human body does not permit to stretch beyond ones capacity. Executives need to take sufficient rest in daytime so that energy levels are maintained. Either due to lack of experience or due to compulsions, executives keep their one feet in call centre and another in part time jobs. In the long run this would affect individuals health. The HR executives must identify such persons and offer professional Counselling services to them.

BASIS OF MEASURES TAKEN FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT

Since stress is an inevitable fact of life that we cant always prevent, our efforts need to be focused on coping with stress more effectively. What follows is a description of a three pronged approach to stress management which includes behavioural/practical techniques, relaxation techniques and cognitive/thinking techniques. The behavioural/practical approaches to stress management include exercise and eating a healthy, balanced diet, which includes selections from the basic food groups. In addition, it is recommended that one avoid the excessive use of alcohol, caffeine and sugar, which contribute to fatigue and vulnerability to mood swings. It is also important to allow the body to rest and replenish to help inoculate the body against future stress. Building this stress resistance also includes scheduling time for leisure and pleasure, which provides for a more balanced, fulfilling life. Anticipating and preparing for recurrent stressors by managing time, setting priorities and limits, delegating responsibility, and not

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procrastinating are helpful stress reducing strategies. These techniques are effective stress management tools because their utilizationis within our control. The relaxation approaches to stress management include a variety of techniques designed to help you effectively manage the body/mind tension. Progressive muscle relaxation is an active form of relaxation where you individually contract the major muscle groups of your body for about five seconds and then you relax the individual muscle groups for a five second holds. The contrast experienced by this exercise relieves muscle tension and relaxes the body. Some of the more passive relaxation approaches include listening to music, reading and using saunas and hot tubs to relieve tension. Techniques used to relax the mind include meditation and visual imagery. Meditation teaches you how to clear the mind of stressful and distracting thoughts by focusing the mental energy on positive coping thoughts. Visual imagery is designed to help the individual visualize him/herself coping effectively with a stressor that was previously experienced as overwhelming. The behavioural and relaxation approaches described above are necessary but not sufficient conditions for stress management. The third prong to stress management, the cognitive or thinking approach, is essential to effective coping with stress. The cognitive or thinking approaches are an integral part of coping effectively with stress and now the primary focus of many stress management programs. Since it has been determined that we can turn off the stress response by changing our threatening/dangerous event appraisals to appraisals that help us view these events as manageable challenges, we have a direct link to controlling the stress response. The first step in the cognitive approach is to identify our thoughts or internal dialog that is negative, perfectionist, black and white, rigid and demanding. In other words, you are more likely to experience stress if you believe that you, the world and other people "should or must" behave in a manner consistent with your demands and standards. For example, you are likely to experience stress if you believe that the world and your life should be stress free and that you do not have the resources to handle stress if it does occur. In addition, demands of perfection on yourself and on others important to you, increases the chance of feeling stressed since these expectations are unrealistic and rigid. After identifying your stress producing

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thoughts you are then able to move onto the second step in the cognitive approach; recognizing the consequences of this negative, rigid dialog.The motivation to change the stress-producing dialog comes from the determination that there are serious consequences that result form these negative, rigid thoughts. When you talk to yourself in a defeated, pessimistic or rigid way, you deny your ability to cope and are not likely to manage situations effectively or meet goals you set. In addition, perfectionist demands are experienced as appropriately unrealistic and contribute to a "why bother" attitude. This attitude reduces the likelihood that you will address these demands since it is a realistic fact that no one or nothing is ever perfect. Once you are convinced that the dialog is negative and counterproductive, you are ready to move on to the third step in the cognitive approach; challenging and replacing the negative internal dialog with a healthier, more productive internal dialog. This important step in the reappraisal process requires that you challenge your rigid dialog by asking yourself a series of questions about that rigid dialog. For example, "Why must I perform perfectly in order to believe I am a valuable human being?" In addition, "Does that demand for perfection increase my anxiety and reduce the likelihood that I perform well at all?" "What would I feel like and would I be more motivated if I changed my demand for perfection to a desire to do well?" Another example of this reappraisal process can be seen in the area of criticism and rejection. A negative internal dialog that would create stress in this area is "I am worthless because I was rejected and this proves that no one will ever love me." A healthy challenge to this belief would be, "How does the opinion of this person reflect my personal worth? "How does it follow that this rejection will lead to future rejections?" It is also important to add, " Even if I were to get rejected repeatedly, could I work to make desired changes in my personality without condemning myself or feeling worthless?" By replacing the negative, rigid dialog with more realistic, flexible dialog, you are more likely to feel healthier emotionally and behave more rationally and productively. The behavioural, relaxation and cognitive techniques described above have been determined to be effective ways to manage and cope more effectively with stress. The techniques give the control back to the individual and empower him/her to manage the inevitable stressors that will occur in life.

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STEPS TAKEN BY CALL CENTRES TOWARDS EMPLOYEE STRESS

Agents handle an average of 110 calls a day, and 80 percent of the calls that come in have some level of emotion. Usually a caller is calling in because they're frustrated, angry, upset, concernedsomething has happened and they're not happy. Therefore, it is crucial that agents and especially the call centre manager note these occurrences and become better prepared and informed on handling them for the sake of their workers and their callers. In these situations the task should become how to handle this type of emotional call rather than instantly labeling it "abusive" and not acceptable.

1) Job Rotation We instituted job sharing/intern program in our call centre. CSRs who meet or exceed job expectations are eligible to do a rotation for three months in other groups. CSRs work half a day on the phones, the other half in the Correspondence Dept, or in the Research Dept, Work Force Management, or Quality Assurance. This breaks up their day, teaches them new skills, & provides us with a pool of trained staff whenever we need it. have a job rotation program that alternate telephone staff to do administrative tasks to break up the day to day grind.

2) Sports Activities In our call centre, what we followed recently is that we organised a sports week where we asked the agents and their supervisours to organise and also take part in the same. This has brought a change in their working performance as far as we can see. I personally feel that you should organise something that will allow the agents change their daily routine and do something routine.

3) Budget For Activities

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If employee turnover is a major problem, you may want to budget money for employee activities / Incentives. I have a activity commitee that plans birthday decorating, holiday potlucks, contests, etc. Involve the staff to join and participate in the commitee.

4) Weekly Employee Focus Group Any employee can come to a weekly or bi weekly focus group with the call centre manager and human resource manager. Questions from the employees are posted publicly and the date that the issues were addressed. Over time, I have seen focus groups that started with very serious issues slowly evolve to sessions that become more like rap sessions - more fun and less serious.

5) Monthly Newsletter From The Company Yes, this is a time consuming endeavour but if done right and done consistently, could be a great medium to communicate new/revised policies, reward employees/teams, train your employees, and build strong team spirits.

6) Daily Department Huddle Each team/department should be highly encouraged to have this quicky huddle daily with their employees. This goes a long way in building that strong bond between employees and supervisors and yes, you can also use this time to communicate.

7) Monthly Letter From The Boss It could be from the VP of Ops, or it could be from the CCM. The point is, the company will have an opportunity every month to speak to the workforce. FACTORS
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8) Involve Front Line Staff in Creating Solutions The more involved an employee feels in the operations and management of the firm, the more dedicated and loyal he is to the organisation. And in turn, more dedicated to his job. When an employee feels that his company actually cares about him, wants to know about his problems and help them in giving solutions, he feels more involved.

9) Attention to Ergonomic Factors Helps Reduce Stress A company must develop an Internal Ergonomic Program to help reduce stress and physical injuries or stress arising from physical stress.

10) Employee Assistance Programs Can Contribute Every organisation should have a dedicated manager and time to time programs to assist and help employees. An in house counsellor or therapist is also a good option

11) Consider Massage Therapy Services or Yoga As Possible Solutions Many organisations now have in house trainers and masseurs to help employees cope with internal stress issues and that way they are assured of employees getting adequate relaxation.

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CALL CANTRE MANAGEMENT REACTION TO STRESS MANAGEMENT

Prashant Chawla, COO, Integreon, a Mumbaibased KPO, says that there are three types of stress an employee may experience tight deadlines, repetitive nature of the job and late night shifts. Aashu Calappa, VP-HR, ICICI OneSource, says, Everything gets measured and this puts employees under pressure. Companies are now making efforts to help their employees cope with stress because it is an occupational hazard. For example, night shifts are rotated on a regular basis. However, deadlines cant be controlled. Most of the BPOs arrange feel good activities like an outdoor picnic or an official dinner once in three months. This helps employees talk to their senior management in an informal environment. Employees are also given recognition by being designated as employee of the week and employee of the month. Vineet Mittal, president and MD, Stream, says that they conduct in-house workshops at frequent intervals in which employees play games and indulge in activities like dumb charades and scrabble. Mr Calappa says they organise various events like family gatherings and Valentines Day celebrations to lighten the atmosphere in the office. According to him, an employee could be stressed because of a tough supervisor or if he is not able to perform well in his job. So, there is a lot of emphasis on the training of team leaders (TL) and supervisors to avoid a strained relationship between the employee and the TL. BPOs like Stream have appointed fun officers whose job is to arrange a party or a movie for the entire office once in a month. Similarly, ICICI OneSource has an executive who is required to spend at least two hours daily at the shop floor talking to employees about their day-to-day life. 3Global, a Hutchison-Whampoa BPO, has also appointed an executive to arrange sports events on a monthly basis. Shirish Kerkar, general manager, HR, 3Global, says, We organise sports events like cricket tournaments to ensure that our employees are engaged in physical activities. The company recently concluded a cricket tournament where 300 employees participated (10 people per team). Shilpa Shetty, a BPO employee, who heads a 200-member team says, Our deadlines are in hours and not days or weeks. So the stress is obviously high. Im heading a large team. So, managing it is a big challenge, which at times, may stress me out. She has adopted an interactive way of dealing with workplace

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stress. She makes sure that she talks to her team members on a daily basis, which may not necessarily be about work. I do a lot of catching up with my team members, which helps me to understand them better, she adds. Another BPO employee, Prashant Warrier, who interacts with the companys clients across the globe says, People at my level are the first ones from the company to interact with the clients, so its puts pressure on us to present our company well because clients are demanding. Sanjay Salooja, a Delhi-based counsellor visits BPOs to counsel the employees. He says generally, front-line employees and team leaders talk to him about both professional and personal problems like long working hours and family demands. Besides teaching them breathing exercises and yoga, the employees are taught to look at things from a different perspective. They are encouraged to take ownership and be accountable for their job in the organisation. Traditionally, call centres meant only voice-based customer support. But now most call centres are more of a contact centre, offering E-CRM services, that include voice based customer support as well as e-mail response, web-based text-chat services and other customer interaction channels. The call centre services can be 'inbound' where in calls are received from customers enquiring about a service or product that an organisation provides. The call centre services can be 'outbound' where in calls are made to customers to sell products or collect information/money etc. Call centre services can also 'specialised' say in business processing where in calls are made from one company to another company. Some call centres stick to only domestic businesses dealing with customers within the country called domestic call centres while others such as an International call centre mainly deal with clients from abroad say from US, Europe etc. There is a great scope for Call centres in India, with a large population of educated English speaking people. The wide range of opportunities, comparatively well paid jobs for the minimum qualification it requires and the facilities the companies provide like to and fro transport, subsidized meals and medical facilities makes Call centres a good option.

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CASE STUDY 2- INFOSYS

Following are some of the steps taken by Infosys to reduce stress: Stress management programs: Conducting stress management programs at organizational level, with the objective of creating awareness about stress and making employees to learn stress management techniques. Physical activities planned in job design: The body can release stress, better through physical exertion, as physicians were suggesting, indulging any kind of physical activity is recommended while job design. Stress-audit: Conducting stress-audit at organizational level, for the purpose teaching individual, what causes stress and its impact on themselves. This leads to design the best suitable strategies for managing the stress. Life style modification programs: To combat the ill effects of stress, life style modification programs at individual and organizational level are recommended, after discussing experts. Ultimately individual should be responsible to carry forward these programs. Finding triggers and stressors: Identifying triggers and stressors through continuously monitoring health of the employees and proactive organizational style will be a coping strategy in stress management. Supportive organization culture: Though, Organization culture impacts in multiple dimensions of organizational outcomes, stress management is also among them. A supportive organizational system will integrate an individual system in order to understand stress and designing appropriate coping strategies.

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Ergonomics and environmental design: Need for improvement in equipment used at work, and physical working conditions are in much demand in present tech-savvy world, and undoubtedly this will become one of the best stress coping strategies at organizational level. Stress counselling programs: Introducing stress counselling programs, in order to understand and solve stress related problems to control mostly behavioural and emotional outcomes of employees. Spiritual programs: Conducting spiritual programs at organizational level will leads to introspection of employees and reduce stress to create more energetic and enriched platform which can increase organizational performance.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/psychology/stress/stress.asp http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/emotions/stress.html http://helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Stress-in-s http://www.dancewithshadows.com/society/work-stress.asp http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9033899/Study_shows_IT_employ http://www.lessons4living.com/info.htm http://www.stressmanagementreview.com/Stress_Management_In_Information http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:jcmt&volume=1&issue http://www.workhealth.org/prevention/prred.html http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=fa/selye http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6771/is_1_4/ai_n28532459/ www.holisticonline.com www.stress.about.com www.mindtools.com www.mftrou.com www.managingstress.com www.ezinearticles.com Sunday Hindustan times, (May 4th 2008), Stress is emerging as a major problem for many successful people. Dr.Satish Chandra Pandy, Indian ways of winning Stress, The Journal of Indian Management and Strategy Pradhumn kumar, (Nov-2009), Employee burnout in the IT and BPO sector, Icfai Univ. press, HRM Review Avinash kumar Srivastav, (2007), Achievement climate in public sector A cross functional study on relationship with stress and coping, IIMB Management Review, December, 2007.

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