E.V. Firms Promote Stress Relief for Workers on Edge

Unemployment rates not seen in decades in the state and nation are prompting East Valley companies to offer stress reduction programs to workers who are on edge and uncertain about their futures.

Some companies are trying to lower employee tension by paying for a variety of stress-reducing programs. Others allow employees to take time off during the workday to participate in stress-free activities, but the employees pay for the services themselves. The Back Rub Co., for example, provides chair massages as well as other programs to more than 60 firms in Arizona, many in the East Valley.

"We're getting a lot more calls for chair massages since the economy turned down," said Tiffany Richards, founder of the East Valley-based company that employs more than 100 therapists.

The company offers chair massages between 15 and 30 minutes long, as well as group yoga classes and wellness workshops. Prices range from $15 for a massage to between $150 and $300 for a wellness program for an unlimited number of employees. The services are paid for by the company.

Richards said that stress-lowering programs help to reduce medical claims and absenteeism and they improve productivity.

Jennifer Bloss, a leasing specialist at HOM Inc., a company that specializes in affordable housing programs for low-income households, has been getting back rubs for more than a year.

"It makes me feel completely relaxed and gives me peace of mind," Bloss said. "Yes, it's stressful times, especially for people who aren't sure about their job future."

John Millikin, a professor of management at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, knows firsthand about stress at the workplace.

For 27 years Millikin was the top executive of the human resources department at Motorola's semiconductor plant in Phoenix, a company that at one time employed more than 25,000 and now has about 2,500.

"I went through four layoffs and I've seen how people get more stressed if they feel their jobs are being jeopardized," said Millikin, who has worked for ASU the last decade.

Millikin said stress reduction programs are on the increase, especially among midsized companies.
"I've also noticed that as more people lose their jobs, there is a sense of guilt among their fellow workers who survived the layoffs," he said...

...Stress in the work place has been labeled the number one health problem in the United States, with costs to American industry estimated at billions of dollars, said Paul Rosch, a clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at New York Medical College and president of the American Institute of Stress in Yonkers, N.Y.

Arizona's unemployed:
A record 37,000 Arizonans were laid off or fired in November, the highest in one month since 1971, according to the state Department of Economic Security.

U.S. jobless:
The unemployment rate nationwide rose from 6.5 percent in October to 6.7 percent in November, with 533,000 jobs slashed - the most in 34 years, according to the U.S.
Department of Labor.

Since the start of the recession, the U.S. economy has lost 1.9 million jobs and the number of unemployed increased by 2.7 million, according to the Labor Department.