The global economic recession is taking a toll on the health of workforce, particularly worst hit are the financial and IT sectors, with the pressure on saving jobs leading to many diseases like spondylitis and obesity, industry body Assocham said.
On the eve of the World Health Day, Assocham released a study 'Corporate Workforce: Chronic and Lifestyle Disease,'. The reports is based on views of 210 corporate employees from 200 various companies across 18 broad sectors like media, telecom and market research/knowledge process outsourcing.
According to the study 54 per cent of the workforce in IT/ITes sector were found to be afflicted to diseases such as depression, severe headache, obesity, spondylitis and hypertension.
"Corporate employees have to survive the stiff global competitive environment to save their jobs, adding pressure on their health leading to silent diseases," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.
The financial services sector reported that 47 per cent of employees are suffering from fatigue, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, the chamber said.