ONE IN FOUR WORKING M'SIANS SAY WORK HAS NEGATIVE IMPACT ON HEALTH

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- One in four working Malaysians consider
their work to have a negative impact on their health, according to a survey
conducted by Kelly Services Inc.

The global survey also found that many Malaysian workers believe that
their employers should be responsible for ensuring health and fitness in the
workplace, said Kelly in statement released here Wednesday.

"For many employees, their work has a significant impact on their health,
and with people spending a great deal of their time at work, it's worth looking
at ways to better integrate work and health," said Kelly Services (Malaysia) Sdn
Bhd's vice president and country general manager, Melissa Norman.

In the survey, Japan fared the worst internationally with the highest rate
of work related health problems, followed by Canada, Ukraine, Finland and Hong
Kong.

Malaysia was ranked 22nd out of the 33 countries involved in the survey,
which covered 115,000 people, including 2,000 Malaysians.

Kelly said when asked which workplace conditions impacted on their health,
Malaysians cited excessive work hours, excessive expectations, lack of
recognition, bullying and poor morale.

The survey also found that more than three quarters of Malaysians had taken
sick leave in the past year but not all workers were entirely honest in the way
they approached sick leave.

Some 27 percent admitted they had taken sick leave without being genuinely
sick.

Almost half the respondents said that when they are sick, they were made
to feel guilty about taking time off.
-- BERNAMA