Irish civilisation has a long history of being caught between two worlds: the ethos it believes, and the ethos it practises. We've been rather controversially ambiguous in the past about colonisation, the dominance of the Catholic Church and political ethics - among other things.

And one ethical bind that is worrying us at the moment is the fact that we're caught between two completely different working styles: the one we believe in and the one we practise.

Officially, the workplace looks to socialist Europe both in terms of workers' conditions and economic policy. But in reality, the Irish workplace has modelled itself on the US style of individualistic capitalism.

It's this two-headed Janus approach we have to address if we're to stop the epidemic of workplace stress, believes Cary Cooper, BUPA professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

"Irish culture wants the American way but it is stuck in a European culture," he says. "Ireland and the UK are two countries which are ideologically off the coast of New York rather than off the coast of France in terms of working practices and attitudes to work culture."

That's why the EU has given Irish economic policy the thumbs down, according to Cooper, who will address a two-day seminar on stress in the workplace in Dublin in April. The EU's criticisms may be ostensibly about financial management, but beneath the surface, in his view, Europe is objecting to the Irish embrace of the American work ethic.

"Europe does not want to adopt a US model. It wants to keep everybody in line," he asserts. "The EU is not just giving out about `the economy' - it's giving out about the culture. The EU is defining work culture and telling its members not to pursue a US model, which widens the gap between rich and poor."

Following the US model is what has made the Irish economy so successful, but this has also brought unprecedented American levels of work-related stress. The consequent damage to relationships and family life should be the factor that motivates us to reframe the way we look at work, he says.

Born and reared in West Hollywood, California, Cooper (60) is the son of a Russian barber and a Romanian housewife. The twice-married father of four has spent 30 years in the UK, becoming a stress expert with an unrivalled public profile. The UK health and safety executive estimates that 60 per cent of all work absence is stress-related, and this has made fertile ground for Cooper's analysis.

"In the past decade there has been a constant Americanisation of the British and Irish workforces," he says. "This has meant more job insecurity, longer hours, workaholism, lack of work/life balance and an autocratic management style. Workers traditionally accepted job insecurity in exchange for a nine-to-five working day, but now that contract has been broken."

Two-thirds of UK managers say they are subjected to restructuring every year, and this reduces their motivation and loyalty to the company. Cooper concludes that an unhappy work atmosphere may not deter graduates from joining, but he warns that they will stay only long enough to notch up "CV points", then leave.

Cooper's first commandment is that happy workers are more productive - a fact lost on many companies. He has tried to convince employers that they are in a win-win situation if they avoid burning out their employees.

Twelve-hour days may impress the boss in terms of "face time", but working longer does not necessarily mean working harder or more effectively. In the end, long hours are counterproductive, Cooper argues, because they result in stress overload and the consequent absenteeism, resignation or even death of valued employees.

Insecurity breeds an almost compulsive addiction to "face-time". It was Cooper who famously identified the syndrome of employees leaving their coats hanging on their chairs at night to make them appear "present". The result is that, in the UK, 10 per cent of managers are working more than 61 hours per week and a further 30 per cent are working more than 51 hours per week. Only 20 per cent of employees work less than 41 hours per week.

In the Republic, the "outsourcing" of work has been embraced by contract workers in the IT, finance and marketing areas because they can earn higher fees on more flexible hours. The flipside, however, is that outsourcing breeds stress and insecurity, says Cooper. Many companies now bring in project managers for six months at a time to deal with specific goals - the problem for companies is that these project managers owe the company nothing and never feel part of a company ethos.

Sixty per cent of British managers feel that loyalty has decreased, while motivation and morale has declined - and Cooper guesses that the same trend is happening in Ireland. The weakening of loyalty means that, when companies invest in training employees, they may find that their upskilled employees abandon them for whoever pays the most, bringing their skills with them. "American society is that kind of society. It's the nature of the psychological contract between employer and employee," says Cooper.

The European psychological contract has tended to be one in which employers demand loyalty and commitment in return for guaranteeing employment and a reasonable lifestyle. "So in Europe, they are not competing as well as Ireland has been and will continue to do," he comments.

What both the Republic and the UK need to do, Cooper believes, is to find a happy medium "somewhere in the mid-Atlantic" which balances the European and American approaches. We need to assimilate the best of the American approach - in terms of robust management styles and risk-taking - with the best of the European approach - which values a social contract in which employees are not stressed to the hilt.

Tying our economy and work practices with Europe is not good psychology, just as it would be disastrous for the economy, Cooper believes. The battleground to attain economic power in the next decade is going to be between Europe and the US, and the Republic has firmly sided with the US - ideologically, if not economically.

"This is what is causing, and will continue to cause, pressures. We are in the middle of trying to resolve that. The buzzword in the UK now is `worklife balance', so why can't we have both? Why can't we be economic leaders and encourage work-life balance?" asks Cooper.

Workers with balanced lives - according to Cooper's meta-analysis - are going to perform better and more creatively. The sooner employers pay heed to his message the better.

"Employers have to learn that to keep people, you have to treat them properly, otherwise they are going to go to the highest bidder," he says.

Prof Cary Cooper is addressing a two-day conference on Managing the Impact of Stress in the Workplace on April 4th and 5th in Clontarf Castle, Dublin. For more information, tel 01-6611130 or e-mail taodevelopments@eircom.net. See also www.taodevelopments.ie