White-collar workers want to be 'last one out' -- of their jobs

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-17 20:56

SHANGHAI - As 2008 drew to an end, the management at China HYDAC Technology (Shanghai) Ltd. put up a notice reminding staff who had vacation time pending to submit their holiday leave plans.

Yu Cheng, a white-collar employee who joined the German-funded business here years ago, decided to waive his vacation time and also stay late on many workdays.

"I like vacations, but I don't want to risk taking a holiday during such uncertain times," he said.

As the global recession deepens, many white-collar workers here in the country's eastern financial hub have a similar concern: that taking a vacation could lead to losing their jobs.

China HYDAC, an electronic device producer, has been seriously affected by the spreading financial crisis. Since the fourth quarter of 2007, its position has gone from bad to worse. Managers hinted that year-end bonuses might fall short of those promised for 2008.

Yu and his colleagues dared not slack off. Few arrived late, and many tried to be last to leave.

"We all want to be the one to 'turn off the lights' at night," he said.

The story is the same for many urban white-collar workers in China now: they're putting in overtime to reduce the risk of being laid off.

All in their minds?

Certainly, workers are worried. But not everyone agrees that these job fears amount to a collective psychological crisis.

In October, the World Health Organization warned that the global financial crisis might lead to worsening mental health, with fear of job loss becoming the biggest source of psychological pressure for China's white-collar workers.

And according to the 2008 Finding Report on Chinese Enterprise Employee Professional Mental Health Management, released November 20 at the 6th China Employee Assistance Program, nearly 70 percent of those surveyed said the economic crisis had greatly affected their mental state. Nearly 10 percent respondents said they felt like they were "on thorns" over the possibility of losing their jobs.

Not everyone in the mental health field thinks things are so bad. Zhao Yinfen of the Shanghai S&M Psych Counseling and Clinic, a hotline, said: "There are not so many people obviously suffering from excessive phobias over the economic crisis."

Zhao's service offered counseling to white-collar workers in the city in recent months. But according to Zhao, the hotline hadn't found that many people were overly concerned about losing their paychecks. Few of their patients sought counseling exclusively for job fears.

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