TRUMBULL, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 1999--Job stress is estimated to cost U.S. industry $300 billion annually in absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover and health care costs, according to the American Institute of Stress (AIS) in Yonkers, New York. That figure may be increasing. According to a new Gallup survey by Pitney Bowes Office Systems (NYSE: PBI), many employees of medium and large American companies say they have more stress at work and are working harder than a year ago, and often have to leave at the end of the day without finishing their work.

Those surveyed were asked, when communicating, what helps most in reducing stress at work. In mid-size companies, fax was clearly seen as the top stress reliever - 45% chose fax, 21% chose email, 15% chose the computer and 3% chose the telephone. A third of large company Gallup respondents selected email, a third chose fax, 16% selected the computer as a stress reducer, and less than 3% chose the telephone. Other communications aids mentioned in the survey, including voice mail, pagers, couriers, and overnight couriers, were selected by less than 2% of the respondents.

Seventy-one percent in large and 78% in mid-size companies report they are working harder, and only 13% of large and mid-size company respondents say they can finish all the work they need to do in a typical day. Of those surveyed, 37% say their level of stress at work has increased over a year ago, compared to less than 10% who say they are experiencing less stress at work.

Despite the growth in email access, fax continues to be the communication technology chosen most by those surveyed as the best method for both sending and receiving messages. Respondents to the survey who had access to both email and to fax equipment said that if they had to limit their means of sending documents to only one method, more of them would use fax than e-mail. In mid-sized companies, 59% would choose fax compared to 25% who would select e-mail. In large companies, 45% would choose fax, compared to 39% who would choose e-mail.

"Everyone is so busy these days - they don't have time to even answer their phones, let alone listen to long voicemail messages," said Deborah Sauer, vice president of marketing for Pitney Bowes Office Systems. "Faxing helps reduce anxiety because you can send a concise message instantly and get an immediate confirmation that it went through. And you can look at a fax and tell in a flash whether or not it's important and who it's from."

The $300 billion a year that American industry pays as a result of job stress does not include a myriad of products and services intended to reduce office workers' stress and improve productivity, according to AIS. The organization estimates that stress management products and services market hit $9.4 billion in 1995, and is projected to be Job Stress - page 3 $11.31 billion for 1999.

In keeping with the Gallup study and its own research findings, Pitney Bowes Office Systems has entered the "lower stress, higher productivity" product marketplace. Its Model 2050 Facsimile System was specifically designed to enhance office productivity through ease of use, even for the technologically challenged, through a touch-sensitive, intuitive operating screen that works in a similar way to a bank ATM.

"Our research showed that people often don't have the time or patience to learn the advanced, time-saving features of fax machines, such as speed dial buttons and broadcast faxing of the same document to several recipients," commented Sauer. "So we designed a machine with all those features that doesn't require any learning time." Sales of the machine, since its launch in May, have far exceeded the company's expectations, according to Sauer.

Perhaps the positive outgrowth of increased workplace stress is growing attention to the need for soul-soothing new office products and equipment. So what's next - a fax machine you can talk to? Remember - you heard it here first!

Pitney Bowes Office Systems offers high performance, leading-edge analog and digital copier/printers and facsimile for the corporate market through a coast-to-coast direct sales/service organization. Pitney Bowes Office Systems was the recipient of the 1998 "Copier Line of the Year" Award from Buyer Laboratories, Inc., a leading independent office products testing center, for the second year in a row, for overall superiority of its entire line of analog and digital imaging equipment. Pitney Bowes Inc. is a $4.22 billion premier provider of informed mail and messaging management. For more information about the company, please visit its web site at www.pitneybowes.com.

Note to journalists: To obtain further data from the Pitney Bowes/Gallup 1999 Fax Usage and Technology Study, contact Jill Lewis or Michael Anstendig, 212-684-6300.