So we’ve landed. Hello people. Salutations, one and all.

With a grand old age of 110 (collectively), we are officially the new bumper value lot of WKSiders – here to get in the mix and hopefully add a certain tangy fizz to life at Wiedens. Tasty.

Hick

Thus far it’s been about a week of orientation and getting to know the inner-workings of the big WK; The well stocked cupboards, meetings galore, lots of lovely people, where the toilets are.

For Swedish Dom, his time also included the sheer joys of getting to
grips with London transport, moving in and IKEA (hang on a second!). More crucially (to us anyway), Dom has also had the all-important inductions to fine British institutions such as Nandos and Marmite.

On the subject of Dom. We’d like to add that his vocab is ever expanding by the day:

“Guff”
“Gunge”
“Splurge”
“Knackard”
“Cor Blimey!”
“The long and short of it”

(Essential additions, we’re sure you’ll all agree)

A quick nostalgic look at Noels House Party circa ’92 pretty much covered both gunge, splurge and cor blimey in one go.

Last but by no means least! We have also been set our first few briefs. Exciting stuff. These include the WK window and ways in which to detract pesky parkers from pinching the sacred wk moped spaces outiside WK headquarters. All are pleased to have such meaty first projects to sink all 138 gnashers into.

We are also working on a few other bits and bobs of our very own. So watch this space. Here’s a sneak preview…

This morning’s Metro front page story was about a study linking stress at work to heart disease. (The juxtaposition with the picture of Heath Ledger, found dead after an apparent drug overdose, is an unfortunate coincidence.)

Work-related stress is the biggest cause of working days lost through injury or ill health, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). (What, even more than hangovers?) It apparently loses UK industry more than 13 million days a year at a cost of £3.7 billion annually. Between 30% and 60% of absence is thought to be stress-related.

Cynics might say that this is because it’s easy to fake stress to your doctor to get a sick note. Tired? Fed up of your job? Hate your boss? Feel you need a break? That must be ‘work-related stress’. Of course, I would never suggest such a thing.

The article got me thinking about stress in the advertising industry. You hear much more talk about stress these days than you used to. There’s no question that we are sometimes under pressure to deliver for our clients, and that the industry in general has become much leaner and harder-working, which puts pressure on people. But are our working lives in this business really “stressful”? It’s not like working in a hospital or on a trawler or an oil rig where lives are at risk if someone makes a mistake.

Here’s a test I found – ask yourself these questions to see if you might be experiencing work-related stress:

I take work home most nights of the week and / or at weekends
I think about work problems at home
I voluntarily work long hours
Work affects my sleep
Family and friends complain that I spend too little time with them
I frequently talk about work at home and with friends
I find it difficult to relax after work
I find it difficult to say ‘no’ to requests to undertake additional work
I find it difficult to delegate
My self esteem is largely based on my achievement at work
I report directly to Tony Davidson
I work on the Woolite account

Yes to one or two = you may just be dedicated to your job. Yes to more than four = you may appear obsessive about work to others. If you answered ‘yes’ to either of the last  two, consult a doctor at once.

What do readers think? Are you stressed at work? Does it make you ill? Do you blame your agency or the state of the business in general?