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What’s Causing UK Workers Stress in 2019
At a time when there is political uncertainty and technology is playing a bigger and bigger role in work environments across the country, this study looks to uncover the main causes of stress at work. Read on to discover our stress statistics.
Browse Our Study
- Summary of Our Findings
- Workplace Stress
- How Often Are We Stressed?
- Are We More Stressed at Home or at Work?
- Causes of Workplace Stress In 2019?
- How Do UK Workers Cope With Stress?
- How Many UK Workers Want to Change Jobs Due to Stress?
- Further Comments
- Download the Full Report
- Information for Journalists
A Summary of Our Findings
- 48% of the British population are stressed at least once a week, for 12%, that’s every single day
- Men feel more stressed at home than at work, while more women feel stressed at work than at home
- More than half of women are stressed at work at least once a week… for 23% it’s at least once a day
- Workload stresses 43% of men and stresses 53% of women
- 30% of women go on social media at least once a day due to stress
- More than 1 in 10 women have left their job due to stress in the last 12 months
- More than 1 in 10 people are thinking about leaving their job due to stress
- 15% of UK workers are stressed at work because of Brexit
- 16% of women are stressed by their boss
- Primary cause of workplace stress is workload
- One in three women will escape to the toilet at least once a week when stressed
- Over one in five women will escape to the toilet at least once a day when stressed
- Almost half (39%) of the British population is stressed at least once a week at work. For 15% it’s every single day.
Workplace Stress
It’s been reported that over 15 million days are lost every year due to employees suffering from work-related stress. Additionally, over 500,000 people in the UK feel ill as a result of their level of work-related stress.
There are a growing number of reasons why workers may find their job is causing them stress. In addition to the internal factors within a business that have a history of causing stress levels to rise such as a difficult work environment or an unhelpful boss, the impact of external factors such as Brexit are now starting to become a cause of stress.
If you’re an employer and are concerned about the stress levels of your workers, you could ask them to take an Individual Stress Test.
How Often Are We Stressed?
- 61% of women are stressed at least once a week
- 23% of women suffer workplace stress daily
- 43% of men are stressed at least once a week
- 13% of men are stressed at work on a daily basis
Being stressed so often in a job has obvious implications on an individual’s wellbeing with one possible consequence being “burn out”.
Are We More Stressed at Home or at Work?
When we asked those who took part in our study whether they were stressed more at home or at work, 56% said they were more stressed at home than they were at work. A deeper look into our results found that:
54% of women were felt stressed at work more than they did at home.
In men, this was flipped with 55% saying they were more stressed at home.
Causes Of Workplace Stress in 2019
- Workload is main cause of workplace stress
- 23% of women attribute stress at work to technology
- 15% of UK workers feel Brexit contributes to workplace stress
- Higher percentage of women than men are stressed due to their boss
Looking into the reasons we’re stressed at work, the main one that stands out is workload with a staggering 53% of women and 43% of men attributing that with why they’re stressed in the workplace.
We can all find implementing new systems in work a stressful experience and so it’s no surprise to see technology the next highest cause of stress. 18% of men said they were stressed out by technology in their office or workplace while 23% of women said this was what made their stress level rise.
At an unprecedented time of political uncertainty, we asked those who took part in our study whether Brexit was a reason they were stressed in work. The amount of UK workers to say this was a cause of stress was 15%.
Brexit just was rated slightly higher than your boss/manager (14%) and commuting (13%) as causes of stress in work. Interestingly, the proportion of women who felt stressed by their boss was a little higher than the percentage of male responses listing that as a reason for stress; 16% vs 14%.
How Do UK Workers Cope With Stress?
- More than one in three of us have to go for a walk at least once a week due to stress at work
- 30% of women go on social media daily to try and combat stress
- Almost a quarter of female workers visit staff toilets when feeling stressed
- 35% of us need a daily brew to ease workplace stress
It’s often said that going for a walk to “clear your head” is a good coping mechanism and 39% admitted to having to go for a walk away from the office or workplace as a result of being stressed at least once a week. The number of those who need to relieve stress by going for a walk every day is 18%.
In women, nearly a quarter said they’d go for a walk at least once a day (24%).
When we asked those in our study how often they visited social media websites (including Snapchat and WhatsApp) to counter feeling stressed, 20% said they would go online at least once a day.
However, the statistics for the number of women visiting social media when stressed revealed that:
30% would use social media daily to cope with stress and half of those would visit social media sites at least three times a day.
Sometimes, the only place to go when you’re stressed at work is the staff toilets and 20% of workers said they would go to the toilet at least once a day when they’re feeling stressed. The proportion of female workers who’d go to the staff toilets when stressed was 24%.
It turns out that 35% of us need to go and make a brew at least once a day when we’re feeling stressed.
How Many UK Workers Want To Change Jobs Due To Stress?
We found that 10% of those in our study were currently thinking about leaving their job due to stress. According to our data, 11% of women have already left a job in the last year due to stress.
Further Comments…
It’s clear from our study that there is a lot more that needs to be done to try and reduce the stress levels of UK workers. There are a number of ways in which you can avoid feeling stressed and ways to try and ensure that if you do encounter stress in your job, that you have the right coping mechanisms in place.
“The fact that so many Brits consider themselves stressed at least once a week really is concerning. Stress can have very real physical impact on the body and results in things like headaches, sleeplessness, stomach upset and even high blood pressure. The study’s findings about the sheer quantity of people stressed at work is a good indicator that mental well-being in the workplace should indeed be taken seriously by employers. Mental health is serious and employees nationwide would benefit from schemes in the workplace to help alleviate unnecessary stress.” Dr Diana Gall, https://www.doctor-4-u.co.uk
Neil Shah from The Stress Management Society commented: “We find ourselves, more so than ever before, in a time of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. The current socio-political-economic climate is such that it’s understandable that people are more stressed than ever before. An unresolved Brexit and upcoming election have all added to the already heavy daily demands most of us are subjected to. As the report the highlights; workload, change, support and burn-out are cited as key reasons as to why people are experiencing stress at work or it could well be that these issues are causing stress.
“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.
“From an organisational perspective, establish a Wellbeing GPS approach. Just like a satnav you need clarity as to where you currently are on your wellbeing journey, have clarity regarding what success looks like (what does a wellbeing culture look like in your organisation?) and then creating a strategic approach to get you there. The journey starts by conducting a Wellbeing Insights Audit to establish what is the current cultural, commercial and risk management challenges to your organisation. It is imperative for employers to ensure that the wellbeing of their employees is being effectively measured and supported, with a clear People, Culture and Wellbeing Strategy to guide it.
“The business case for managing the wellbeing of employees is irrefutable. Organisations that value the safety, wellbeing and health of their employees improve their engagement, retention and productivity, in turn promoting their brand image and their profitability. This study and the subsequent report have further highlighted how important this is.”
Download the Full Report
The full report is available to download below. We would appreciate Cartridge People being used as a reference if the data contained within this report is used for editorial purposes.
Click here to downloadInformation for Journalists
The dataset from our study is also available on request.
About Stress Awareness Day
November 6th is National Stress Awareness Day which offers the opportunity to think about wellbeing at home and at work. The charity, Mind, is asking employers to start the conversation about stress in the workplace. By creating a Stress Awareness Space, staff can share their thoughts and feelings when they are feeling stressed.
About Cartridge People
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