GTI: 58% OF ARMENIAN BUSINESSMEN INDICATE INCREASE IN STRESS LEVEL COMPARED TO 2009
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2010 18:08 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ More than half of leaders of privately held business
(PHBs) globally (56%) feel their stress levels have increased over
the last year. The research from the Grant Thornton International
Business Report (IBR) 2010 cover the opinion of over 7,400 business
owners across 36 economies, Grant Thornton Amyot press service told
PanARMENIAN.Net.
Mainland China tops the league for the most stressed leaders with 76%
of business owners saying their stress levels have increased over the
last year. Other economies that featured high in the stress league
table were Mexico (74%), Turkey (72%) and Greece (68%). In Armenia
the percentage of businessmen, who indicate increased stress level
compared to 2009 is equal to 58%.
There appears to be a link between stress levels and GDP. Business
owners in mainland China, Vietnam, Mexico, India and Turkey all feature
high on the stress league table and are working in environments, where
high growth is expected. But it’s not just in countries expecting
high growth that stress levels are high – at the opposite end of
the growth scale Ireland, Spain and Greece all feature high on the
league scale. Alex MacBeath, global leader – markets at Grant Thornton
International comments, "We have businesses at both ends of the GDP
growth scale experiencing high stress for very different reasons. In
mainland China the pressure is on to keep up with the pace of expansion
while in Ireland, for example, the economy is retracting and business
owners are worried about how they will keep their business alive."
Business owners were asked about the major causes of workplace stress.
Not surprisingly, the most common cause during 2009 was the economic
climate with 38% of respondents globally citing this as one of the
major causes of stress. This was followed by pressure on cash flow
(26%) and competitor activities (21%).
Gagik Gyulbudaghyan, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton Armenia,
comments, "In Armenia business owners feel pressures from different
sides: economic climate changes (crisis) of 27%, heavy workload
(19%), competitor activities (17%) and pressure on cash flow (14%)
are the major obstacles Armenian businesses see in their day-to-day
business management. The statistics is really very illustrative,
and fairly presents the worries that our business owners have. It
is worth mentioning that after pressure coming from economic crisis
(which is common for all countries). Armenian business owners think,
that heavy workload is the second major factor adding stress into
their daily management."
The survey also found a correlation between stress levels and the
number of days off taken by an individual in a year. Countries at the
top of the stress league are those, where business owners, on average,
take fewer holidays each year. Armenia, for example, has an increase
of 58% over the last year in stress level and is in the middle of
the holiday league, with business owners on average taking 15 days
of holiday during the year, which is more than the global average of
14 days.
Gagik Gyulbudaghyan notes, "Here we see vivid evidence, which shows
that the stress level is in direct correlation with number of vacation
days taken during the year. It proves that taking the time to step
away from the business and to get into a different atmosphere,
eases the stress in business and allows seeing new opportunities in
decision making."
Grant Thornton Amyot LLC, the Armenian Member of Grant Thornton
International, is a multi-professional group of Public Accountants
and Auditors, Financial Advisers, Business, Industry, Tax and Legal
Consultants.
Grant Thornton Amyot (then Amyot Exco Armenia) was founded in 1991,
and has since been providing audit missions, in-depth professional
consulting services, expert advice to governmental organisations,
top-level enterprises, national and commercial banks in CIS countries:
Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Grant Thornton Amyot has extensive experience of audit and consulting
services for different sized enterprises, commercial and investment
banks in CIS countries, projects financed by The World Bank Group,
UN System, EBRD, EU/EC, USAID, Eurasia Foundation, GTZ, KfW and other
International Finance/Lending Institutions and Organizations.
The experts provide assurances to management, corporate directors,
investors and lenders. This includes assurance on the reliability
and security of financial and non-financial information, business
processes and controls, regulatory compliance and information.