European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 29, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Michael Trimarchi the Washington Post i f you be thought about quitting your Job because of stress in the workplace you re not alone a Survey by Northwestern National life insurance co. On employee burnout found 34 percent of american workers seriously considered leaving their jobs last year while 33 percent expected to Burn out soon. In the past two years 14 percent said they had quit or changed jobs because of workplace stress for employers that s bad news. A a the. Price tag on stress is High lower productivity higher absenteeism greater turnover increased health inst Rance claims. A. A. -., and the occurrence of stress related disabilities i increasing according to Northwestern National which said the proportion of its stress related disability cases a. Doubled to 13 percent in 1990 from 6 percent in 1982. The average Cost of rehabilitation during that time was $1,925. While some cases can be resolved for less than readers action Linean signal Power and transmission it a i Ann a department of the army civilian recently assigned to Germany this is my  overseas and subsequently my first exposure to an radio and television. I compliment you and your staffs on the. Service you provide to the Community. A while awaiting suitable housing on the Economy was living in the guest House at Patrick Henry Village in Heidelberg i received an just Fine and it satisfied All of. My entertainment and information needs i was extremely pleased with your news and sports coverage and was impressed with the Way you re seemingly Able to suffice everyone a entertainment and information needs using. Only one station.  a Quot unfortunately when construction on my Home was. Completed and i moved in i was disappointed to find out that the an to signal strengthen Bockenheim where i live is not Strong enough to receive. The signal is  from Tompkins Barracks in Schwet Zingen. I live Only about 12. Kilometres about 7 Miles from there and Stilt am not Able to receive a signal. Needless to say 1 am now lost without the service you and your command provide. My question to you is one of signal strength i recently Carrie across a publication that listed All the an to transmitter Sites and the Power of their signal. I found that the Schwet Zingen transmitter Only broadcasts at 4 Watts of Power while other Sites broadcast As High As 3,000 or 4,000 Watts. While Don t feel that much Power is needed Here would a signal Power of 200 Watts to 300 Watts bring the signal strength to a level that would be a receivable in my area would this be possible i would not ask if it were just for myself however there. Is amps Peter Jaeger $1,000, others can run several times higher than the amount held in Reserve. On average companies and insurers hold $73,270 in Reserve pending the outcome of rehabilitation for a disabled employee Quot stress  real Complex disability and it is not easily diagnosed or identified a said Scott Knowlton manager of Northwestern National s disability management programs. Quot Job stress has been an unrecognized. Problem among employers basically we re seeing the incidence  disabilities double Over to years Quot stress also is a secondary Factor in illnesses or a disorders such As migraine headaches lower Back pain ulcers and hypertension Knowlton said. However stress related disabilities now Are More than twice As difficult to rehabilitate than they were nearly a decade ago. A a v the study showed that the Success rate for rehabilitating stress related disabilities averaged 50 percent while the Overall Success rate averaged about 77 percent a a. A a a a a a ,. A. A. Is a Large number of americans that now live in. Bockenheim Kitsch and surrounding communities. In. My neighbourhood alone there has to be at least two dozen families. Know for a fact each of these families a and the Many others in the area would be extremely grateful to receive an. Aas the proponent for command information in Europe is there anything that can be done to support this. Request please help if you can / Timothy  Heidelberg Germany in col. Harry b. Loper chief of staff 5th signal come  is 5th signal come s goal to provide Quality an service to the most viewers possible since the greatest concentration of viewers Are on military facilities in government owned housing and in government leased housing these areas Are our highest priority. The amount of Power required to service an area is. Influenced by several factors. Less Power is required to. Transmit successfully Over Flat land with More Power. Required in Hilly or mountainous areas. Generally speaking the 94 an broadcast transmitters radiate the least amount of Power that will provide a Clear signal to a specific target area. Even in the areas where we transmit in the 4,000-Watt Range it is the lower Power to cover a targeted area. ,. A. Our current situation in the Heidelberg area is this we Are authorized a 20-Watt transmitter at the shopping area a 12-Watf transmitter at Patrick Henry Village and a 4-Watt transmitter at. Schwet Zingen. And while they do not provide much Quot extra Quot signal they allow us to service our High priority areas there. As an example the German government allowed us to boost Power m the Heidelberg area in december 1988 so that we could service the Sundhausen leased housing. Quot the variation m Success rates depends largely on when a disability is referred to Case managers for rehabilitation Quot the study said. A. A a /. Quot Early identification of any disability allows Case managers to become involved in the rehabilitation , which leads to a higher Success  a Knowlton said Early intervention was t emphasized Smuch then As it is now a a. A a Quot the traditional approach was to incur a disability go. Ion Short term disability and then move to Long term disability before intervening Quot he said Quot now when somebody becomes disabled we strive to get involved . A / a a. The Survey released earlier this month found 57 percent of 600 workers interviewed said they had Little personal control Over How a Job was done a Factor that contributed significantly to employee burnout a when asked what contributes most to workplace stress More than half the employees said either too much work or working with the  changes in the work environment also were Likely to increase the Chance of employee burnout the Survey showed. A ? 1 a a the changes included reduced employee benefits 53 percent merger acquisition or ownership change 50 percent workforce reduction 43 percent and frequent. Mandatory overtime 41 percent. A Quot workplaces May produce and support unhealthy Behaviours Quot said Harold Kahler president of the wellness councils of America and a consultant for the. Northwestern National life study Quot the corporate culture. Of Many workplaces places unrealistic demands on employees. Therefore workplaces need to assess their environments and organizational structures to make stress reducing . Quot if Job stress is making workers less productive you have to weigh the benefits and disadvantages of a super stressful environment Quot Knowlton said. Quot is a stressful environment beneficial does it cause workers to quit maybe productivity would go up if there were constructive outlets to relieve. Stress. For companies it s a balancing act Quot v. Workers at companies that offer stress reduction programs Are Only half As Likely to suffer burnout than / workers who. Don t have Access to such programs the Survey showed. The programs include health insurance a coverage for mental illness and chemical dependency effective worker manager communications supportive work and family policies and flexible scheduling. Area. However we did not get authorization to boost the Power As much As we wanted. The same control exists for German Tele Ision stations which Are regulated on the amount of Power that can be transmitted. A a.  who Are having difficulty receiving an should Check with their neighbors to see what works in their specific area. The 5h signal come provides Corri Unity directors of engineering and housing with maps of the an transmitting patterns. These can help determine whether the signal is present at a specific location. Another suggestion would be to hire a local television repair shop to conduct a strength test. Provided the signal is present a properly adjusted rooftop Antenna does the Best Job of picking up the an signal a signal Booster mounted on the Antenna wiil amplify the sound and picture. However this is not a Universal solution,-.since the equipment will also amplify the snowy picture and Static of a poor signal. We recognize that not everyone receives an and we continue to work with the appropriate government -agencies4o expand coverage admittedly it is a slow t objective re Rains to provide Quality Arn service to the largest audience possible to write us readers action line is the readers Quot court of last to ,fnvin9 to answer some of the questions u i e overseas in a military environment or tfjni0ons,ab0ut and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you an8 a questl0n and Don t know where to turn for the answer wite threaders action line co the stars shoes ? 09211 4211 Al letters most be signed and preference Wilt be Given to those readers Nfn Matlon of9cneral interest to our Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday May 29, 1991