Maltese workers getting more stressed

Joe Xuereb

Sep 19th 2012, 12:45

Stress is an old, old gentle man friend of mine who lives in a Government flat. It had to be refurbished and extended. From what I understand two ceilings caved in since the workers worked last sometime in June this year and have not been seen since. The result is debris everywhere and not least, a gaping hole in the floor which has to be manoeuvred by walking on planks of wood. He is stressed and it stresses me thinking of what follow-up actions he could take. He seems to have tried everything but comes up against a brick-wall every time. This is more than that other very common ailment, ie work not completed to durable satisfaction(like road re-surfacing). This is worse because the work was started and not finished. It has now reached in impasse plus a gaping hole in the floor. There should be a law against such mismanagement.

Financial problems cause much stress. Mismanagement of money is often the owners's fault. But often there is a guilt-free shortage of money. It is all very well for some to say that we need to enjoy a simple life that does not deplete our bank balance. If only it were that simple.

carlos ellul

Sep 19th 2012, 09:26

The problems are various

A) Long working
B) poor pay
C) poor family friendly measures
D) poor road infrastructure and bus service
E) institutions who still stress on outdated measures (schools with ridiculous opening hours and which compensate with tons of homework, museum lessons on top of religious lessons offered at school etc)

Working Families are expected to perform miracles as they juggle between giving everything from their workplace, right to their family (home works, private lessons, inadequate school hours, lessons tal muzew etc) and their elderly parents (elderly homes are costly). Meanwhile the government is busy wasting their taxes on the Imsieken tas socjeta (single mothers with unknown fathers, immigrants, unneeded projects). When the money dry out they turn to us by increasing taxes and reduce benefits to those who don't need them (ie those who pay for everyone else). To make matters worse The courts seem meant to protect criminals and not Innocent citizens. For example why should I report a crime when I know that a person can inflict permanent injuries on me and get away with a suspended sentence?

It's time we focus more on the law abiding citizen who produce and less on the institutions (private, government or religious) who pretend that everyone should adapt to their particular needs.

Joe Xuereb

Sep 19th 2012, 09:16

@GL Calleja (Today, 19:09). GL Calleja allow me to add another source of stress.

Life is stressful by definition. A little stress is therefore unavoidable - it is called being alive - and positive because it motivates us to 'get up and go'. Stress that is detrimental is prolonged stress caused by stressful situations that can be rectified but aren't, ie constant noise, poor housing, troubled relationships, uncontrollable children, and so on.

How many times have we read on the pages about regular influxes of migrants, and hundreds comment here but nothing seems to change. Malta is now acting as a kind of permanent clearing-house for these migrants and this can not but affect public morale. On this and other countless matters; you name it, we have it! Maltese 'gemgem' (complaining) is not entirely unjustified. Especially when the result of another survey stated that most Maltese do not see a problem (with this influx of migrants). I find this situation stressful and I live the other side of Europe, and I dont even work now. Maybe I should pay a quick visit to Malta and see for myself whether there IS a problem at street level, or not. I might find that the problem is all in my mind after all and that I should advise myself to join those cool fat cats,* a Maltese majority it seems.

Stressful is therefore seeing one's country open to perfectly legal migration by people from a totally different culture which has a knock-on effect on a traditionalist tiny country like Malta. Malta is overpopulated and the last thing it needs is for it to be open to migration. This is an untenable, stressful situation which won't work because it cannot.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120918/local/baby-young-boy-among-people-injured-in-yesterday-s-hal-far-accident.437445

* Malta is small and any problem, perceived or imagined stares us right in our faces. Some use denial as a tactic. The Government certainly does preferring instead to throw at us platitudes and chick-peas. A stock-in-trade response to any criticism is often 'would the LP do any better?!' It might or it might not. But platitudes (especially with a general election on the horizon) is not a sign of political success/maturity. As in, we are told that Malta is out of the recession but not quite. What kind of nonsense is this?

Stress is being overworked at the Times of Malta and readers having to plead to have their comments published.

A Parliament building anyone?!

carlos ellul

Sep 19th 2012, 09:00

Maria, friendly family measures are meant to help families cope and produce better citizens/future customers/taxpayers. It's an investment for our future.

Charles Zammit

Sep 19th 2012, 08:18

I cannot see anything about the BAD Management at work being mentioned , more so where the female worker is concerned , if any signs of stress is shown by a female at the place of work , it's put down to a weaker sex syndrome which is a load of crap . I have had females work with me and for me and they are the most excellent of workers , they do not shirk work and give their utmost , besides being very loyal . Bad Management at the place of work is rampant and this not only causes stress but also lack of production and positive results .

matthew tanti

Sep 19th 2012, 07:54

the problem is that we are failing to enjoy life's simple pleasures. commercialisation has led us to believe that we need to work more, to earn more, to spend more.

Ms Maria Vella

Sep 19th 2012, 07:18

We are all in favor of family friendly measures however has someone stopped to think about the repercussions these might bring to colleagues who have to make up for their lost time? At the end of the day business targets need to be achieved and if there are people doing less man hours then the colleagues who are putting in more hours to make up for their absences suffer the consequences.

Another point to ponder is the amount of tax rebates for families. Single people who do not work reduced hours, probably work more hours to make up for colleagues' lost hours never get any rebates but just pay more and more taxes for family friendly measures....how's that for injustice? Perhaps political parties should give a thought about single people and not Just milk them to look good in other areas

Keith Camilleri

Sep 19th 2012, 01:19

The problem is arising too often because many consumers are buying services and products that they are not being able to pay for. Its not a case of Gonzi or anyone else, its this arrogance that is keeping me up till 2.00am everyday to collect my companies money. DISGRACE!!!

D Agius

Sep 19th 2012, 00:04

What a convenient coincidence. A company offering flexible workspaces commissioned a study whcih found that the best way to reduce stress is by having a flexible workspace...

M. Bezzina

Sep 18th 2012, 21:42

Ic Cirku ta fuq biss ijed igawdi taht dal gvern ...iqabbad konsulemti jithallsu l belli liri ta pjanta li johorgu u lili jigi jzidni 1.56 ta Euro u madankollu issib min ifahhar lil dal gvern!!Ma nafx jien ghandu jkun vera qedin nizmagaw ax li kieku qedin genna tal art pacenzja imma minu mejjet bil guh!!!

Alfred Attard

Sep 18th 2012, 21:16

No surprise! Have a look at most of the vacancies advertised in this paper. In most cases one of the requisites would be ' must be able to work under pressure'. This is becoming the rule of the day. A lot of employers nowadays would pass on the duties of terminated employees on to the other employees instead of employing new ones for the only reason to reduce expenses through their payroll.

Joseph Brincat

Sep 18th 2012, 21:13

Monday, September 17, 2012, 22:03
Gonzi pn said Next election is about peace of mind !!!

Of course Next election is about peace of mind ,
for it's you ( gonzi pn ) created this stresses to every one
that's way we are going to put Joseph muscat as a Prime Minister

John Spiteri

Sep 18th 2012, 20:29

Where I work we are short staffed because many young women are on maternity leave and we have no supply staff to compensate. This is unfair on the workers and is creating a heavier workload hence more stress!

m. borg (slm)

Sep 18th 2012, 20:23

Only yesterday gonzipn declared " gonzipn Serhan tal-Mohh".

Joseph Brincat

Sep 18th 2012, 19:33

Maltese workers getting more stressed
GONZI PN have put every one on stress these last 5 YEARS !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un9uh7p8V2g

francis x caruana

Sep 18th 2012, 19:20

no wonder.................thanks to gonzi pn and comp. this is another certificate to this prime minister

GL Calleja

Sep 18th 2012, 19:09

Here is my take on why almost half of the Maltese workers are stressed out:
1. Most of those stressed out do not own a houseboat by the water.
2. Although we work very hard, most of us are having a hard time trying to make ends meet. We barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. Utilities like, electricity, water and everything else are exorbitant expensive.
3. We worry about our government, we worry about our politics and our politicians.
4. We see corruption all over the country because there are those that can and there are those that cannot.
5. We have to fight for every mile once we get on the road, in two words, congestive traffic.
6. We have a parliament that cannot get their act together. When most of the politicians don't even bother to show up for sessions and get paid anyway. What a waste.
7. We see politicians on both sides give themselves a hefty pay raise while we get a raise of 1.67 euro.
8.We are stressed out because when we go to the beach we cannot find a spot to put up our own umbrella because the public spaces are already taken by vendors.
9. We are stressed out because our transport system, Arriva is in shambles and nobody is taking responsibility. As a matter of fact the Minister responsible seems to have gone in hiding.
10. Last but not least, we are very stressed out because our courts are the laughing butt joke of Europe.
I'll throw in a couple more. We are so stressed out because they let our National Airline, Air Malta be neglected and almost on the brink of bankruptcy so much that the Government after reducing half the staff (500) is very conveniently presenting Air Malta with an almost 200,000,000 Million euro bail out. I could go on and on but I am sure the rest of you can find their own reasons why half of us are so stressed out. I didn't even mention the incompetent Transport Malta and of course the incompetent MEPA. Have you tried to travel from Mosta to the Cirkewwa Ferry Building lately? Talk about stressed out?

stephen mifsud

Sep 18th 2012, 17:57

hi everyone please know that today's life is a trap so please don't fall in it and get into debt because that's what they want u to do ... Malta has plenty for people to enjoy ask the baby boomers from the 50's as they will tell u it was the best time of there life back then and they thought it was bad then but they realized how fortunate and beautiful times it was ... so live simple don't go to keep up to the Jone's enjoy family and community and friends it don't cost much when we all share with each other ... the more rich u get the MORE isolated u become .

Ramon Cassaro

Sep 18th 2012, 17:31

I started working at the age of 15,never worked with the government,always paid my tax and social security,when I was going to get married I bought a block of land and started building our 3 storey house and in a matter of 3 years me and my wife working everything was paid for land + building ,that was in the 70`s now-a-day for these young ones who try to get married and try to buy a place (a small flat/apartment) they have to loan from the bank if it is still possible which they have to repay in 40 or 50 years and what happens if they want to have children,no wonder they are stressed and depressed,now-a-day you can see many young man still under the age of 20 or so who are already bald,why ,I think that it is all stress and tension.

V. Cauchi

Sep 18th 2012, 16:57

Mostly it is the keeping-up-with-the joneses mindset of individual families and, unfortunately, of government too in having to keep up and do as the EU says, while the same EU has set standards for itself and for each country how to reach up to the USA in as much a short time as possible. Unless we realise these individual, national and regional mistakes and seek to address them, stress will be the order of the day for most of us considering that stress also manifests itself in failed governments having to seek new setups or coalitions, or premature re-election.

C Agius

Sep 18th 2012, 16:36

All Regus had to do is watch Kevin Spacey in Horrible Bosses to know what professionals face when dealing with the boss/managing partner each day.. ego's too big to fit through the door, un-sympathetic and part of the boys club.. shudder.. all for a monthly miserly portion of what one actually bills the client.. for the boss to buy hisr new beneteau or rolex or 3rd summer house in Umbria.. bliss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWtywioYgYQ

S Sammut

Sep 18th 2012, 16:31

Totally agree here...
A common fact is .. Employees leave a company and others are expected to do their fulltime job plus 2 or 3 other's job. Employer says " Let me test , maybe I can do the same with less"!
There should be some regulation imposed on the workload that one can handle..

W Cassar

Sep 18th 2012, 16:24

Unless you are a public sector worker, then you can still have a stress free half day :)

Matthew Farrugia

Sep 18th 2012, 16:21

the key is to practice a sport to wind down after a hard day... the underwater world is a perfect combination for a balanced life style... check out some underwater environments on the following link http://matfar.co.uk/?portfoliocpt=um-el-faroud

Joseph Mifsud

Sep 18th 2012, 16:16

Even Malta's old establishment the old money are stressed not because they don'y have money but because they are afraid of losing their business to the new truly Maltese businessmen.

Doris Farrugia

Sep 18th 2012, 16:14

STRESS:A mum goes to work, goes back home,cook for the family,clean the house,take the children to private lessons or catholic lessons,wash the clothes and if there's time left,take a bath and off to bed.The husband can't help in the house chores cause after work he goes for part time work.And where do all the hard earned working class/medium class salary go?The mum's salary goes to pay water/electricity/Gas and petrol or bus fares for the whole family.The husband's salary goes for everyday living,and the part time salary goes for the house loan or rent and if a member of the family gets sick,the money for the medicine is taken from the everyday living allowance.No wonder there is STRESS!!!And BTW just a short time ago we were considered to be the most happy people.Maybe stress makes one happy.I don't know if it's true!

Anthony Formosa

Sep 18th 2012, 16:00

Escuse my ignorance. But where is Malta mentioned in the attached report. I am seeing no statement related to Maltese workers per se but to the global research. And which results may be different if this study is made entirely on Maltese workers. So in this sense I think the wording of the above news item needs to be changed.

Adrian Muscat

Sep 18th 2012, 15:51

On a personal level Maltese people want more, more and more. We bite more than we can chew. We work overtime to buy stuff we do not need or we do not have time to enjoy.... there are other better and lower cost solutions....some luxuries are for singles...some others are for parents

Peter Buttigieg

Sep 18th 2012, 15:47

Everyone is stressed. Some more than others and everyone stresses out for different reasons. Some stress for the workload and responsibility some for financial reasons. The point is that the majority are stressed. It is what people do about the stress that is what's important.

I stress about my workload and responibilities, but I choose to stress about that from the time i walk into the office to the time that I leave. Whilst I am at work I give my 100%, as I cannot physically give more. After that my attention is 100% devoted to my personal life and my family.

Mr John Borg

Sep 18th 2012, 15:45

Half of the stress is due to incompetent and bureaucratic governmental departments which we have to deal with.

Adrian Grech

Sep 18th 2012, 15:38

veru

Albert Spiteri

Sep 18th 2012, 15:36

Rising prices, rising instability, precarious jobs, no job protection, an in adequate national medical health, increasing social imbalance, increasing humiliation, inadequate pensions, inadequate national education scheme, increasing debts, insensitive government, unaffordable utility prices. What else can be said? The working class is in shock! Workers are stressed and getting more so. The workers know the land is theirs, know they are the only creators of wealth, know that the banks and corporations are untouchables. The workers know government is lying, is cheating on them.
What can the workers do? Revolution? Is that they answer. So, workers are more stressed now than ever before.

Mr Joe Cardona

Sep 18th 2012, 15:36

Ahseb u ara dwak l-imsejkna iktar minn 7,000 ruh bla xoghol minbarra ukoll dawk li ghandhom aktar minn 45 sena u li qed jitwarrbu minn kulhadd l-aktar fostrhom Gonzi PN ghax ghalih qishom ma jezistux ghax ma jridx jaghmel xejn ghalihom, kemm ghadnhom aktar stress minn dawk li qed jahdmu jewilla.

Joseph Borg

Sep 18th 2012, 15:34

eh kemm konna ahjar meta konna aghar. U veru ta.

Mark. Galea

Sep 18th 2012, 15:32

A few more months, and with HofraPL in government, all people from 16 years up will be in employment or training. The leader gave his word.

Paul Zammit

Sep 18th 2012, 15:31

@everyone

stop whining and get back to work ...

Albert Spiteri

Sep 18th 2012, 15:31

Rising prices, rising instability, precarious jobs, no job protection, an insensitive government, an in adequate national medical health, increasing social imbalance, increasing humiliation, inadequate pensions, inadequate national education scheme, increasing debts, insensitive government, unaffordable utility prices. What else can be said? The working class is in shock! Workers are stressed and getting more so. The workers know the land is theirs, know they are the only creators of wealth, know that the banks and corporations are untouchables. The workers know government is lying, is cheating on them.
What can the workers do? Revolution? Is that they answer. So, workers are more stressed now than ever before.

Francis Attard

Sep 18th 2012, 15:22

And for those workers, who suffer injustices without finding any help whatsoever wherever they look for it, life is even more stressful.
And, believe me, these kind of workers exist!

Mr Emanuel Farrugia

Sep 18th 2012, 15:10

Stress & Bullying

Through work man must earn his daily bread1 and contribute to the continual advance of science and technology and, above all, to elevating unceasingly the cultural and moral level of the society within which he lives in community with those who belong to the same family. And work means any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that can and must be recognized as work, in the midst of all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by virtue of humanity itself.

Stress is your body's way of responding to any kind of demand. It can be caused by both good and bad experiences. When people feel stressed by something going on around them, their bodies react by releasing chemicals into the blood. These chemicals give people more energy and strength, which can be a good thing if their stress is caused by physical danger. But this can also be a bad thing, if their stress is in response to something emotional and there is no outlet for this extra energy and strength.

Positive stress (or eustress) is the result of competent management and mature leadership where everyone works together and everyone is valued and supported. Positive stress enhances well-being and can be harnessed to enhance performance and fuel achievement. Negative stress (or distress) is the result of a bullying climate where threat, coercion and fear substitute for non-existent management skills. Employees have to work twice as hard to achieve half as much to compensate for the dysfunctional and inefficient management.

Employees with abusive bosses often deal with the situation in ways that inadvertently make them feel worse, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Stress Management. Bullying – being treated unreasonably by someone else, leads to stress and feelings of alienation.

Emanuel Farrugia former Executive Secretary Mtarfa Local Council

Charles W. Sammut

Sep 18th 2012, 15:09

Relax, go on unemployment benefit, dabble on something on the side, and get rewarded.

Work, and get treated like a slave or if you are self-employed as a criminal. Isn't this socialist system, wonderful?

stephen mifsud

Sep 18th 2012, 15:06

do u know the word "strike " if malta is,so,good economicaly as the PM says the workers should have Bargaining Power so withdrawing ur labour is way to fight back if u are being taken advantage of ...after trynig to bargain with the employer and u ger to nowhere ....

Karl Consiglio

Sep 18th 2012, 15:05

Maltese were meant to live the island life, not the big city one.

Francis Attard

Sep 18th 2012, 15:02

U minn kif jidhru l-affarijiet m'hemmx cans li s-sitwazzjoni tinbidel, anzi wisq nahseb illi ghada ser ikun ghar mil-llum.

K Axisa

Sep 18th 2012, 14:59

wow I'm impressed. They had to do a research to come to this conclusion, fair enough. So now whats the plan to reduce this stress? less work hours and increase in salary? That would be great but unfortunately I dont think that's going to happen.

F. Pisani

Sep 18th 2012, 14:54

Completely agreed. I am one of them.

Pule' Carmel

Sep 18th 2012, 14:50

I have been saying this for a long time and it is shown by the most popular subjects preferred by our students, Maths and Science are the least popular because they need courage, guarantees and accurate results, but people want more software. I believe this is related to the stress we feel at work since the soft subjects do not depict reality as is.

The most streesed people are young mother who are expected to study, work, become mothers and work, go for higher degrees and work and form families and work more to keep up with the payments.
I have already suggested that mothers should fight for sabbatical paid leave as University staff!! just for becoming mothers doing research on their babies as University do research during their " two year sabbaticals!!" given to some University Staff.

Mr Jamie Frendo

Sep 18th 2012, 14:49

Work itself isn't the stressfull part, the stressfull part is looking at your Salary and it's strecthed to the limit in order to make ends meet and then you look at how much you are paying in income tax!! (that was supposed to be decreased as was promised in 2008.........)

Mr leo attard

Sep 18th 2012, 14:48

most of the stress comes from unqualified superiors trying to tell those who are more qualified than them how to run things --- how did these unqualified get their position in the first place, you may ask? the right connections and not the know-how

M Micallef

Sep 18th 2012, 14:47

Problem is flexible working is non existent in most companies

N. Agius

Sep 18th 2012, 14:41

They get stressed the most when they look at their salary and when they experience the high cost of living.

J Farrugia

Sep 18th 2012, 14:30

Can garuantee 90% of the stress is trying to get to work on time without Arriva crashing or breaking down, idiot drivers doing a bumper to bumper or TM closing a road during rush hour to repair a light bulb.

Tony DeBattista

Sep 18th 2012, 14:21

Stresjat ta veru bil paga tal-qamel li ghandi

L. Vella

Sep 18th 2012, 14:18

The problem is workloads always increase but the compensation doesn't. That, in my opinion, is what's stressful.