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A big political/economic issue in the US is the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to nations such as India. But Work & Family Newsbrief (August 2005, www.workfamily.com) has reported that the U.S. may be outsourcing stress along with the work. According to the article, “Outsourced and Overworked in India” . . .

“In Banglore, a psychiatric clinic finds its waiting room crowded on Saturday mornings lately, filled with outsourced IT workers. Aged between 20 and 33 and eager to hide their symptoms, these overworked patients are suffering from stress, burnout, panic attacks, depression, relationship troubles, alcoholism, and eating disorders. Says their psychiatrist, ‘They work up to 14-hour days with no time for family. Ask them why and they say it’s absolutely necessary because someone is always waiting to take their jobs.’ They also need to ‘adopt an alien persona,’ he says, ‘which can be as damaging as long hours. The strain of pretending to be Bob or Susan on the phone for weeks on end and keeping up with soap operas and baseball can lead to questions of identity.’ "

The article goes on to observe that some software companies are starting to add recreation centers and yoga rooms where employees can unwind after putting in long days. Can on-site child care centers be far behind?

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