The cost of remote work in mental health: 7 out of 10 Peruvians suffer from stress

Malena has been teleworking for more than a year and a half, shares her accounting tasks with the care of her daughter and feels that she cannot take it anymore. In fact, three hours have passed since his ‘disconnection’ and he is still responding to WhatsApp messages and emails. It is paradoxical, he says, that what at the time was a sanitary protection measure to avoid contagion by COVID-19, today puts your … mental health at serious risk.

A study of Labor Trends conducted by Microsoft in 31 countries during 2021 revealed worrying signs of stress and digital exhaustion as a result of remote working. 54% of those surveyed said they feel overworked and 39% said they really felt exhausted.

Certainly, in Peru the outlook is more dangerous. According to a study presented by Visma Latin America in early 2021, 70% of Peruvian workers indicated that they suffered from job stress during the pandemic. 71% of these say that as a result they had episodes of depression.

“While telecommuting has provided more family time and greater flexibility, digital exhaustion is a serious threat to workers. Many people find it difficult to separate their professional life from their personal life, since they live in the same environment and there are often no clear limits regarding the autonomy of these spaces “, says Úrsula Peschiera, clinical psychologist at the International Clinic and founder of Immersio.pe.

The digital disconnection should be a tool to precisely mark those limits. However, a Marsh Peru survey revealed that Less than a third of companies that telecommute respect this right of workers with regard to sending WhatsApp messages, emails and calls to their employees outside of their working hours and during their days off.

“In face-to-face work, a worker leaves the office and disconnects until the next day. He ventures into other spaces that dissipate his mind, abstract him from work. The same should happen with remote work, but since there is no disconnect, people do not finish [de marcar la tarjeta de salida]. After-hours messages disturb personal space, extending the working day. They fill our minds with slopes and there is no real rest “, says Peschiera in statements to Trade.

The right to digital disconnection, in force in Peru since November 2020, empowers employees to disconnect from media such as the computer or cell phone, outside of their working hours.

GROUPS MOST AFFECTED

The impact is not the same for everyone, there are groups to which the new dynamics have added more responsibilities. Women like Malena have a greater social burden because it is more difficult for them to disconnect from their family space to enter work. “Many have to take care of the house and the children, in parallel to their work activities”, assures Milca Luján, a psychologist specializing in talent management.

The specialist highlights that the pandemic generated a job crisis and fear of unemployment, aggravating this situation. “The fear of being unemployed makes people push their limits more, putting their health at risk”, he points out.

BURNED WORKER

The same Microsoft study indicates that self-rated productivity has remained the same or higher compared to 2020, but at an extremely high cost: the deterioration of workers’ health. “Without rest, or pauses, stress will turn into a chronic state sooner rather than later”says Claudia Espinoza, Marsh’s senior occupational psychology consultant.

Stress from overwork is called burnout or burnout worker syndrome. This brings with it anxiety, depression and even generates physical problems, affecting our performance at work and our interpersonal relationships.

“It manifests itself gradually, as a feeling of physical and mental exhaustion, and a deep personal emptiness, even though we can be successful professionally. There is excessive anxiety, there is a lack of desire to develop other activities and people tend to be very critical of their work “, Claudia Espinoza indicates to this medium.

Too much stress for too long is a bomb that will inevitably explode. One of the consequences of burnout it is collapse, which manifests itself through health effects, but also through resignations and job desertions. Not surprisingly, according to the same Microsoft survey, 41% of the global workforce consider leaving their current job within the next year.

TO DO?

Milca Luján maintains that stress alone is not harmful. In fact, healthy levels help us stay alert, motivated, and productive. However, hyperactivity without enough rest becomes counterproductive, negative for our health. “It makes us less productive, it can cause sleep disorders and even physical ailments”, points out in an interview to Trade.

In this escalation there are extreme levels of stress where neither rest days nor vacations help us to disconnect or recharge. Therefore, the specialist recommends taking small breaks within our day.

Another study also carried out by Microsoft highlights the importance of breaks, for example, between virtual meetings. Small spaces of at least five minutes between video calls keep our brain more active and without high levels of stress.

“Using these breaks to meditate and breathe correctly goes a long way. Taking a breath and drinking a glass of water away from the computer clears us up “, recommends Pescheira.

Getting enough sleep and taking vacations seem like obvious advice, but this rest should be full and timely. “We must get away from the cell phone and not think about those situations that caused us concern at work. We must not wait to reach the limits of our endurance, but rather we must stop before it is too late. “advises Milca Luján.

A no less important tip is to perform a single task at a time at work, since several activities simultaneously raise our stress levels without realizing it.

Signs of chronic stress

• Lack of energy
• Difficulty concentrating
• Constant worry
• Decreased creativity
• Negative effects on personality
• Excessive self-criticism
• Demotivation
• Bad mood
• Negative effects on personality
• Physical effects such as muscle aches or hair loss

Dial line 113, option 5, or visit a Community Mental Health Center. See here the complete list and opening hours https://www.minsa.gob.pe/salud-mental/