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Are we putting too much pressure on our workforce?
As this year's intake of Graduate Entry Level workers are settling into their new roles, the latest research amongst British workers commissioned by national charity, Shaw Trust, reveals that a staggering 100% feel stressed at work (compared to a national average of 88.7%)[1] .
The survey, which was commissioned in the lead up to National Stress Day (5th November), revealed that being briefed on work by lots of different people at the same time was the highest cause of stress amongst this category and was cited as the cause by 60.4% of respondents within the group.
Comments Shaw Trust, managing director, Tim Cooper: "We can see that graduate workers are particularly susceptible to stress. They may be entering full time employment for the first time and will often be reporting in to a number of managers which can lead to difficulties in terms of managing workloads and meeting deadlines."
Graduate Entry Level workers were not the only group highlighted by the research as displaying higher than average stress levels. 90.7% of female workers said that they feel stressed at work (compared to 85% of men), with 46.5% reporting that they get stressed because of unrealistically tight deadlines. 45.2% also attributed the cause of stress as having to manage multiple tasks, briefed by different people at the same time.
Tim continues: With such high levels of stress amongst the British workforce, communication with managers is key to addressing these issues. The research however revealed a worrying reluctance amongst workers to raise such concerns with their employer, with 32.1% of Graduate Entry Level Workers saying that they wouldn't tell their boss if they felt stressed."
Such reluctance is not unique to younger workers, with 19.8% of all respondents saying that they wouldn't tell their boss or company if they were feeling stressed. This is not surprising when you consider that 45% of workers surveyed don't believe their employer would provide any support and only 14.8% felt their boss would help them to prioritise their workload.
Comments Professor Cary L Cooper, CBE, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University: "Stress is something which any worker will experience at some point and whilst some positions and groups are more likely to suffer from stress than others it is equally important for employers to manage stress levels of all workers.
"The most important step is to create an environment in which staff feel comfortable to tell their line manager should they feel stressed, and then by working together to find the most appropriate way to address this which could be anything from introducing flexible working arrangements to introducing stress relieving activities in the office."
"Being able to provide more supportive management helps to improve employee retention, which in turn increases productivity and profitability" cntinues Tim.
Indeed, the research indicates that we may be able to take some learnings about methods of relaxation from the home to help reduce stress levels in the workplace. Whilst taking a walk scored most highly amongst respondents as the most popular way to try and relax at work (34.6%), doing something physical such as using a punch bag was cited as a method by only 3.9% of workers.
This method however scored more highly as a way to relax in the home (15.8%), suggesting there may be benefits for employers in taking a more alternative approach to stress management.
(1) All figures unless otherwise stated, are from a TickBox survey. Total sample size was 1070 workers. Fieldwork was undertaken between 18th September - 24th September 2008. The survey was carried out online.
