Anxiety over market comes to workplace

Written by Jay Greene and Robert Ankeny
Published by Crain's Detroit Business – October 26, 2008

In the wake of the worldwide financial crisis, an increasing number of business executives and employees are feeling stress that may be affecting their jobs and home lives, said Steven Craig, a corporate psychologist with Craig Counseling Services and Corporate Coaching Services in Birmingham.

“Across the board, business executives are feeling a lot of stress,” said Craig. “I am called in by companies that want me to conduct assessments of their employees and talk with them about stress and how they deal with change.”

Craig and several other psychologists and psychiatrists contacted by Crain's Detroit Business said they expect to see higher levels of people seeking mental health services if the predicted economic recession happens and as the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays draw near.

In a recent survey of Detroit and several other metropolitan areas, the American Psychological Association said stress levels in Detroit are more acute than other parts of the country.

Worries about money and job stability are top stress factors that have led to higher levels of drinking, overeating, smoking and gambling, the survey said.

Here are some other disturbing trends:

		Troy-based T.E.A.M., an employee-assistance company, reported a 7 percent increase in usage for employee assistance programs in September 2008, compared with the same month last year. “You don't see that kind of increase. Usually the month-to-month numbers are pretty flat,” said Kent Sharkey, T.E.A.M. CEO.
		In September, mental health claims at Health Alliance Plan in Detroit rose 7 percent and inpatient days rose 5 percent over the same period in 2007. “We're seeing a higher level of domestic conflicts due to financial obligations and medication overdoses triggered by bankruptcies,” said Susan Schwandt, HAP's public-relations director.
		At Warren-based St. John Health, Andrew Konwiak, director of St. John Eastwood Clinics, said people may be delaying mental health services because they can't afford co-pays and deductibles. St. John employees have increased employee assistance program requests by 20 percent over the past six months, he said.

More work, more pressure

John LoVasco, vice president of employee benefits with Alcos/Brown & Brown in Sterling Heights, said stress levels have risen for the company's financial advisers as they help worried clients.

“My sales force is working way longer hours to constantly be responsive to clients' phone calls,” LoVasco said. “They are up to 60 hours a week, up from 45 to 50 hours. That is not a sustainable model.”

Over the last four months, LoVasco said, Alcos has asked its on-site organizational psychologist to meet with financial advisers on a monthly basis instead of twice a year.

Some proactive companies are hiring corporate psychologists like Craig to come into the workplace to help employees deal with stress or depression.

One such company is Great Lakes Cancer Management Specialists, a 10-physician oncology and hematology practice with 120 employees in offices in Grosse Pointe Woods, Warren and Utica.

“The practice is being squeezed by both the financial crisis that affects their patients and declining reimbursement” from government and private payers, Craig said. “My job is to assess the level of depression and stress and the ability of the organization to change.”

Craig said employees and doctors at Great Lakes are learning to understand that they cannot control external events.

Bryan Hirn, area president for Bingham Farms-based Gallagher/Rains, a health care employee benefit firm, said the company also has taken steps to reduce stress within its 60-member staff.

“We have a staff meeting every month where we talk about sales and what we are doing to protect people's jobs,” Hirn said.

“That reduces stress when people believe they are informed as what is going on.”

Uncertainty breeds anxiety

Mark Winter, co-founder of Bingham Farms-based Identity Marketing & Public Relations L.L.C., said he believes it's an employer's responsibility to keep workers well-informed about the economy and their financial situations.

So Winter called on his company's financial adviser, Jonathon Citrin of The Citrin Group L.L.C., a Southfield-based boutique investment consultant firm.

“We had all 18 of our people brown-bagged in our conference room, and Citrin gave us a 45-minute historical perspective on the ups and downs of the market, why it's different than in 2000,” Winter said.

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