Four in ten workers don’t think stress is handled well in their workplace, according to a pan-European opinion poll conducted on behalf of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).
Ipsos MORI carried out surveys in 31 European countries, conducting 16,622 interviews between November 2012 and early February this year. Around half of those surveyed (51 per cent) perceived work-related stress to be common in their workplace.
Female workers (54 per cent) are more likely than male workers (49 per cent) to say that work-related stress is common; so, too, are workers aged 18-54 (53 per cent) compared with workers aged 55 and over (44 per cent).
Perceptions of workplace stress also vary by sector, with those in health or care work being the most likely to say cases of work-related stress are common (61 per cent).
Job insecurity or job reorganisation (72 per cent) are seen as the most common causes of work-related stress across Europe, followed by hours worked, or workload (66 per cent).
In countries with a higher level of public debt workers are more likely to cite job insecurity, or job reorganisation as a cause of work-related stress. Unacceptable behaviours, such as bullying or harassment, are perceived as common causes of stress by six in ten workers.
Fewer workers associate stress with a lack of support from colleagues, or superiors (57 per cent), a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities (52 per cent), or limited opportunities to manage work patterns (46 per cent).
The survey also asked questions about the ageing workforce. When asked whether they thought older workers aged 60 and over were more prone to certain behaviours than other workers:
Commenting on the findings, EU-OSHA director Christa Sedlatschek said: “Forty-one per cent of workers across Europe say work-related stress is not handled well in their workplace, with 15 per cent telling us it is handled “not at all well”.
“We are very much focused on tackling psychosocial risks, such as stress, in the workplace; next year we will launch our Healthy Workplaces Campaign on managing stress. The message to be conveyed across European companies of different sizes and sectors is that psychosocial risks can be dealt with in the same logical and systematic way as other health and safety issues.”
