One in five employees have been forced to take time off work due to stress after dealing with unrealistic expectations at work, a survey has found.
The survey, conducted by serviced office provider Business Environment, found that a quarter (28.8 per cent) of workers feel stressed at work all, or most of, the time, and one fifth (21 per cent) said they took work home at least once or twice a week.
Prolonged stress can lead to a variety of different health problems, including heart disease, depression, sleep deprivation and skin conditions.
Additionally, the survey found that some workers are turning to unhealthy methods of relaxation to combat their stress. Three per cent of workers have a cigarette to deal with stress, while six per cent turn to alcohol. Healthier, and more popular, methods of dealing with stress include going on a short walk to get fresh air (43.67 per cent), calling friends and family (32.66 per cent) and having a rant in private (28.02 per cent).
However, David Saul, managing director at Business Environment has warned that many companies are creating a culture where employees feel they are expected to work at all hours of the day at any cost.
“This research clearly shows that this is actually having a detrimental effect, not only on employee health and wellbeing, but also on the wider business with billions being lost in days taken off sick.” said Mr Saul.
He continued: “I believe all employers have a responsibility to challenge the status quo and cultivate an office environment where employees feel supported by senior staff and able to voice concerns before stress levels go through the roof. Of course, there will be times when employees are required to go above and beyond, but this should never be at the detriment to their health.
What makes us susceptible to burnout?
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
One in five employees have been forced to take time off work due to stress after dealing with unrealistic expectations at work, a survey has found.
Are there any places on the web that you can recommend for good legal advice for employees in this situation?
Best regards
Alan
I truly hope that the posters who are so dismissive of workplace stress are never in a position where they suffer from it. IMO attitudes such as those add to the problem some workers have regarding seeking help if they are feeling stressed. I also respectfully suggest that Mr Griffiths takes a hard look at the difference between exercising proper management control and bullying. Is he not aware that people have not only become very ill through workplace bullying but have committed suicide? Workplace bullying is a real issue and the victims are neither weak or unable to face up… Read more »
Oh dear – somebody touched a raw nerve there Mr Wiggins or are you just trolling? With respect, it is your choice to still be working at 70 and to have worked many hours unpaid overtime – if you are willing to do that, well good for you. You are entitled to your opinion, however, perhaps you need to consider that everybody does not wish to do the same and your doing so does not make you any better than they. To assume that people who are concerned about others suffering from stress and express concern need to “grow up”… Read more »
It seems to have become acceptable practice in modern work practice to push employees way beyond what most reasonable people would consider acceptable. The attitude seems to be it is seen as “part of the job”. You wouldn’t transfer that logic to say to somebody working at height, that falling off is part of the job or say to a nurse that being assaulted is part of the job. Employers need to wake up to this issue.
Gosh. Some fairly harsh responses there. I think comments like that belong in some of the red top newspapers. I used to work in the public sector for an organisation with a first rate stress management policy and guess what, we had stunningly low levels of absence through stress, anxiety and mental ilness. The two are not unconnected. Ultimately, you get the workforce you deserve. Dont forget the “Health” in health and safety.
All those poor folk taking time off work to deal with stress need to look at what is happening in the Philipines and take a good look at their own attitude to life. Is it really all that bad? We need to have some maturity in our society and stop behaving as if we are all weak individuals that are bullied by aggressive employees. What a load of wusses we are.
How predictable that some responses to my posting demonstrate the usual holier than thou attitude of those who wish to blame nasty employers for all their own inadequacies. The arrogance of those who instantly assume a contrary view to their own must demonstrate a lack of care or lack of experience of the real world is breathtaking. I don’t read a redtop newspaper but to imply that strong opinions should stay in such papers says more about the chap that suggested it than it does about my contrary views. Gosh, someone with strong views, he must be consigned to the… Read more »
I will accept that people can judge me if they wish as I judge them by their attitudes to life. I do not feel raw, do not consider myself a superior being, have no idea what trolling is so cannot answer that query or insult. Much of my work is in Health & Safety. Certainly times change and hopefully always for the better but why is my point being missed? The Philipines experience has caused their people real stress. What we call stress we can walk away from if we have the courage or get help, they cannot, so I… Read more »
I don’t see the bullying and pressure that others assert makes them so ill that they can’t work. I consider it a refusal to face the realities of life; a desertion of responsibilities. It was the emphasis placed by HSE on stress in the workplace that gave the weak individuals the chance to take advantage, just as they did with manual handling, when HSE made a meal of that too. That offered opportunity, combined with the weak-kneed approach of the medical fraternity to sign off people at the drop of a hat, has made Britain into a nation of childlike… Read more »
It is clear that at least one person posting has not suffered the effects of stress to the degree of being ill.
I myself have been there and it was not very nice. The trouble is that I did not know I was suffering from excess pressure until I found myself unable to go out my front door.
This is a very real problem in todays world and companies who put profit before their workers health do pay for it in other ways as other people have said.
Employers creating this sort of culture are leaving themselves wide open to claims from employees, for stress, if proven. 3 rules of Law did the employer owe a duty of care, was that duty of care broken, was there a loss due to that duty of care being broken ???????
Besides the 3 rules of law listed above you also have to prove the stress [psychiatric injury] was foreseeable ie the Employer knew or ought to have known you were becoming ill.
If you can not prove this even if you pass the three other hurdles you will not have a successful claim.