Educational Media Reviews Online

“I haven’t had time to manage my time” admits a woman who runs her own business, and claims that her work is all-consuming. Even though she absolutely loves what she is doing, she has little time to be with her children, which was the reason she went into business for herself in the first place. She is among the increasing numbers of individuals for whom a sense of community derives from the workplace. For these individuals there is a kind of obliteration of their lives outside of work and their work becomes their life. Thus, they become disconnected from what is understood as a traditional community and begin to exhibit symptoms of stress. This woman recognizes her problem and seeks help from a time management consultant who works with her to create a balance between her work and her life.

Anxiety and mood disorders are often caused by stress. Losing one’s ability to concentrate is among the red flag signs of a deeper problem, and should not be ignored. A man recovering from a breakdown caused by self-inflicted overwork realizes that he should have acted when he saw the problem coming. Everyone has a breaking point and should slow down and set their priorities in time. He simply didn’t believe that he also had a breaking point. The North American culture has become one in which the work ethic prompts pride in overwork and focus on acquisitions rather than social bonding. It is approaching what is culturally ingrained in Japan where an estimated 10,000 people a year die of heart attacks, strokes and brain hemorrhages that are related to overwork – Karoshi. The Japanese culture is such that many individuals are unable to say no and simply obey their superiors to the detriment of their health. It is not unusual for people to have 4-hour commutes each day with a hectic 12-hour work period in between the ride to and from work. Curiously, although the link is not made in the documentary it is clear that North Americans are becoming more closely related to the Japanese in this respect, but that they have not yet recognized it. Perhaps, North Americans should study the links between heart attacks and strokes and overwork/stress and also go onto assign a word to designate the deaths caused by work-related stress.

In France a 35-hour work-week has been legislated but because of 13% unemployment, many employers blackmail their employees to put in overtime or lose their jobs. In contrast, the SAS Institute, a software company in North Carolina is one where even the CEO goes home everyday at 5:00pm. A Harvard study suggests that SAS saves 75 million dollars a year because of their employee retention. Their turnover rate is 4 1/2% while the software industry rate is 18%. They achieve this by providing generous health benefits such as an on-site healthcare center and daycare center and support through bonuses and profit sharing. They add break stations with beverages, sweets and fruit, gymnasia, play fields and walking trails for employees to de-stress and break away from continual work. It is one example of a success story.

Caught in the Speed Trap attempts to alert the viewer to potential physical and emotional disaster if work-related stress is allowed to eat away without reprieve. It is a general overview of how people end up being caught up in causing themselves harm and is recommended for general self-help collections in public libraries, for collections related to employee assistance programs in Human Resources departments and in continuing education courses for managers and administrators.

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