SUDDEN RISE OF DEPRESSION AMONG 'IT EMPLOYEES'

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

More than a few concerns are arising over the mental health of India's 3-million strong IT workforce, even as the industry slashes fresh hiring, demands better and more diverse skills from existing staffers and puts poor performers on notice.

"Earlier, when the sector was booming, IT executives suffered stress. But they are showing signs of depression now," says P Satish Chandra, director, NIMHANS, one of India's largest psychiatric and counselling centres. In the past six months, more and more IT executives are coming in with problems of acute depression, insecurity, low confidence, dejection, aversion to social life and panic. Earlier, fewer people came and with different problems, mostly stress-related issues such as anxiety and lack of appetite.


NIMHANS opened a centre for Well Being in 2011 to counsel urban patients on work-life problems. It is now seeing more than a steady trickle of tech professionals seeking help. At the current pace, the centre expects that more than half its patients will soon be from the IT industry. Even two years ago, less than a third were IT executives. It treated about 600 such patients last year.

"This (number of depressed IT workers we are seeing) is just the tip of the iceberg," claims Chandra. Many choose not to seek medical help fearful of the stigma surrounding mental ailments. NIMHANS' well being centre has been built away from the psychiatric wards for this very reason.

This is not just a Bangalore phenomenon. Sameer Malhotra, head at Max Healthcare's Mental Health and Behavioural Science department in Delhi, says roughly a third of his patients are techies. The number, he says, was much lower two years ago.

"This group has no human touch and is connected mostly through social media, where everyone puts up their best photographs," says Nirmala Menon, founder of Interweave Consulting, who has counselled many IT workers struggling with depression. "They don't discuss work problems and everyone wants to pretend they have a slice of happy life," adds Menon.

Nirmala Menon of Interweave Consulting recalls the example of Ayesha (name changed), a 23-year-old high-performer with a Chennai-based IT company, who buckled under work pressure and needed counselling. Her lack of meaningful relationships outside work aggravated her problem.

Similarly, Satish Sen (name changed), a professional with six years' experience, slipped into depression as soon as his project shut down and he was put on the bench. "I have no life outside my job. I routinely did night shifts and worked on weekends to meet targets," he says.

Industry body Nasscom says such fears are exaggerated. "When we were growing at fast pace, people said stress; now it can't be growing depressed. Quality of work has improved," says Nasscom President Som Mittal.

"Counsellors are making it (deterioration of mental health of IT workers) sound bigger than it actually is," adds Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice-president, Nasscom. "We have a 3-million workforce. We need to see what percentage is having such problems."

Such slowdown pressures, Nasscom believes, should be seen as an opportunity to re-skill, not as a setback.

The IT industry, which was once a magnet for young talent with its fat salaries, stock options and modern workspaces, is now flailing in the throes of a slowdown. This year, the industry will hire 50,000 people less than last, according to Nasscom forecasts. Salary costs eat up a big chunk of the industry's $76-billion revenues and any cost-cutting inevitably hits employees first.

The industry is enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for laggards. Since variable pay is a high percentage of salary and calibrated to profits, small differences in performance ratings make a large impact on take-home salary.

1 to 1, a counselling centre for IT professionals, says even a hint of a negative communication causes heightened fear and anxiety.

Financial pressures can easily crack someone who lacks nurturing emotional relationships. About 80% of India's tech workforce is under 40 years of age. They are at the peak of their earning careers and have taken on significant loan repayment commitments.

"Earlier, the calls (for counselling) were about personal problems. Now, it is about fear of termination, and even warning letters spike need for emotional help," says Karuna Bhaskar, counselling psychologist at 1 to 1 help.net. It has 40 IT companies as clients and 80% of its 1,500 counselling sessions every month are for IT and ITeS companies.

"Initially, they lived in denial," says head of NIMHANS' well being centre Prabha Chandra, recounting a pattern she sees in many patients. "They think they are infallible and will muster another job. But when they don't get one, they slip into severe self-doubt."

This spills over and hurts marriages and filial relationships too. "Only after a few sessions do we understand that most problems start with unpredictability in their jobs," she adds.

Bangalore-based TeamLease gets 300 resumes a day from the IT and ITeS industry across branches, but has few openings. Hiring numbers have dropped by 30% in the past two quarters. "Till a year ago, the life of a resume was maximum three months. Now it is at least five months," says Sangeeta Lala, VP and co-founder of the staffing company.