A recent survey by Cartridge People revealed that stress was the main cause for workers to be searching for new jobs over the last year, but what factors have led to employees feeling such pressure?
According to the survey’s findings:
48% of the British population feel stressed at least once a week, with 12% feeling stressed every day. Although men admitted to experiencing more stress at home, women felt that they felt most stressed in the workplace.
More than half of the women surveyed felt stressed at work at least once a week, with 23% experiencing it at least once a day. Workload was a cause of stress for 43% of men and 53% of women, with 30% of women admitting that they turned to social media sites at least once a day in an effort to combat their stress.
More than one in ten women left their job as a direct result of stress in the last twelve months, and more than one in ten people are still considering leaving.
Lost working days
Reports suggest that over fifteen million days are lost every year as the result of stress in the workplace. On top of this, over half a million workers feel ill due to the levels of stress they experience in their jobs.
A good resource for employers and human resource staff would be to examine results from your team by asking them to take the Stress Management Society‘s Individual Stress Test.
More statistics
- Workload is the biggest source of stress amongst all workers surveyed, with 42% reporting this overall.
- 61% of women experience stress at work once a week, compared with the aforementioned 23% who feel stressed every day.
- 43% of men feel stressed at work once a week, with 13% experiencing it once a week.
- Statistically, a higher percentage of women (16%) experience stress due to their boss than their male colleagues (14%).
Workplace technology
After workload, technology is the second-largest cause of grief at work. Having to deal with new machinery, tools, programmes, operating systems and networking/reporting infrastructures as dictated by your role or company can be a big source of frustration, as can having to deal with software crashes or system freezes on a regular or semi-regular basis.
23% of women reported being put under stress at the hands of workplace tech, whereas men sat at 18%.
Observations
Looking at these figures, it’s obvious that there is lots of work to be done to help reduce stress among the working populace in the UK.
A representative of the Stress Management Society stated:
“The first step to meaningful change is to effectively engage people – start by opening up a positive dialogue and to destigmatise the subject. Make it ‘ok to not be ok’, and that admitting that you are feeling mentally or emotionally compromised is not viewed as a sign of weakness – more a sign of strength by willing to ask for support.”
Proper one-to-ones with staff on a regular basis can help to identify where things are going wrong, or where improvements could be made to the working environments and pressures placed upon employees.
Legally-enforced rights such as lunch breaks need to be adhered to for the good of all, as should proper training on new equipment, IT systems and procedures to ensure that stress caused by that factor is kept to a minimum.
What should I do if I feel stressed at work?
A certain amount of stress is both natural and useful in some circumstances, both at work and in daily life. It starts to become a more serious problem when the scales begin to tip towards regular or constant stress, or the feeling of stress in a situation where it shouldn’t be necessary – like when you’re not actually working.
If you feel like the stress you are under is unreasonable, the first step would be to speak to your line manager. If your line manager is the source of your stress, speak to your HR representative. Stress caused by excessive or unfair workload or bullying, harassment – whether it be physical, verbal or sexual – must be reported and are never acceptable.
If you have escalated your issue at work and you feel like your voice isn’t being heard, we recommend seeking legal advice for the next step.
Further reading
Read our comprehensive guide to Stress at Work on our website.
Useful resources
ACAS – Free online employment advice
Citizens Advice Bureau – Comprehensive advice for UK citizens, including employment.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
If you feel that you have been suffering from workplace stress and would like further information, please feel free to contact us in confidence for a free initial consultation. Choose one of the methods to the right-hand side of this page, or call us on 0113 200 9787 to find out how one of our team can help you.
Article by Stuart Jones
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