Search Results for: stress

October 18, 2016

Stress and overwork in the City of London remains endemic, finds research ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The financial services industry has never been known as a ‘touchy-feeling’ environment, and despite efforts to raise the issue of mental ill health at work, appears resolutely resistant to cultural change. This perception is reinforced by a new piece of research which claims that rising stress in the City is driving more than two out of three investment bank staff to consider quitting their job – but employees believe talking about stress or mental health issues to management will damage their careers. In a study by MetLife among decision makers at financial institutions two out of five (40 percent) think their job is extremely stressful with 67 percent considering quitting their jobs in the next year if stress levels do not improve. However, despite the impact of stress on their work and home lives, around 70 percent believe that admitting to suffering from anxiety or mental health issues will damage their career prospects and there is a reluctance to offer staff more flexible hours to help reduce the strain.

October 14, 2016

Stress levels among Gen Y workers higher than other generations ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Younger workers are more affected by workplace stress than their older colleagues, with half of Generation Y UK workers (50 percent), reporting heightened levels of stress in the workplace, compared to 44 percent for generation X and 35 percent within the baby boomer generation. The Global Benefits Attitudes Survey of 1,895 employees in the UK by Willis Towers Watson suggests that the top causes of workplace stress for Millennials were inadequate staffing and low pay, which mirrored the top two causes across all generations in the survey. This is followed by a lack of work/life balance and unclear and/or conflicting job expectations, whereas for baby boomers it is company culture and excessive organisation change. The report also shows Gen Y workers are more worried about their finances than older workers, with 64 percent of younger workers reporting being worried, compared to 55 percent of generation X workers and 38 percent of baby boomers.

September 1, 2016

Commuting is making us more stressed and more fat, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

The average UK commuter adds almost 800 calories to their diet every week as a result of their journey to and from work, according to our new report, Health in a Hurry, from the UK’s Royal Society for Public Health. The study of around 1,500 people claims that the average time spent commuting in the UK has increased in recent years to almost an hour a day, and suggests longer commutes are therefore potentially shortening lives. The report highlights the impact of travelling to and from work caused by forms of passive commuting including rail, bus and car. It says that this part of the daily routine has a huge impact on the public’s health and wellbeing with longer commute times associated with increased stress, higher blood pressure and BMI, and reduced time available for health-promoting activities such as cooking, exercising and sleeping. Commuters in London have an average journey of 79 minutes while it is just under 45 minutes for people living in Wales.

August 25, 2016

Research suggests individual responses to stress at work vary widely ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

No matter how compelling the evidence on the impact of stress at work there are always individuals who dismiss the very idea as self-indulgence. New research suggests this isn’t down to lack of empathy but simply because some people just don’t experience stress the same as others. The survey by the Deloitte Greenhouse Experience team found statistically significant variation in how respondents react to stressors which indicates that workplace stress is relative and not everyone experiences stress in the same way or to the same degree. The majority of respondents reported modest levels of stress. Fourteen percent reported being stressed only rarely and 57 percent reported being stressed sometimes, while 26 percent reported being stressed often, and 3 percent reported being always stressed. Different scenarios were also mooted to identify stress triggers. Making mistakes topped the list of stressors, with 82 percent of respondents indicating errors caused stress.

August 17, 2016

The behaviour of managers is increasing workplace stress, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Management behaviour is contributing to rising workplace stress levels with employees blaming their own bosses for adding to the pressures they feel, a new study of 1,200 people by MetLife claims. The study suggests that 69 percent of employees say that the behaviour of managers in their organisation has increased stress and that the rising stress is having a major impact on company performance. Around 45 percent of employees say that stress caused by management has led to staff in their organisation taking extended time off. This in turn increases costs and affects productivity as well as impacting other workers who take on an increased workload. Government data estimates that around 35 percent of all work-related ill-health is caused by stress and that stress accounts for 43 percent of all working days lost to ill-health – the equivalent of 9.9 million working days a year at an average of 23 days per case.

August 3, 2016

Third of people have nobody to talk to about stress, claims report ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A new survey by office products supplier Viking claims that a third of workers suffer from stress and yet have no one to talk to about it. The authors of the study claims that these findings correlate strongly with people’s overall levels of fulfilment at work, with 46 percent of those surveyed saying they had negative thoughts about their job several times a week. When it comes to a person’s working environment, the results showed that office workers were more stressed than those working from home. Factors that contributed to these stress levels included working overtime, not taking enough breaks, having no one to talk to, job satisfaction, pressure to succeed. It’s no surprise that a lack of breaks is causing stress, with half of office workers admitting to taking no breaks at all during the day, excluding lunch. Conversely, a massive 61 percent of people working from home said they took two to three breaks throughout the day.

July 9, 2016

Perils of sitting + Meeting change with resilience + Root causes of stress ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Furniture, Insight Briefings, Newsletter, Wellbeing, Workplace

In this week’s Newsletter; Gary Chandler argues we are witnessing a new era for office design; Neil Franklin wonders who fares best when working remotely; Mark Eltringham unpicks the facts from fiction on the dangers of sitting; suggests the ways we can break ourselves out of groupthink and delves into a report which suggests order and disorder are perfectly functional ways for firms to operate. The overwhelming majority of UK employees are working beyond their contracted hours; employers’ views on the causes of workplace stress differ from employees; managers struggle with the fall-out from crises; and despite the prospect of a female PM, the boardroom remains out of reach for many business women. Download our new Briefing, produced in partnership with Boss Design on the link between culture and workplace strategy and design; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

July 7, 2016

Employers and staff disagree on root causes of workplace stress ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Seventy-five percent of US employers say workplace stress is their number one health concern, but a disconnect between employers and employees on the causes of stress could undermine efforts to address the problem. Data from Willis Towers Watson’s 2015/2016 Global Staying@Work Survey along with its 2015/2016 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey reveals that the top causes of stress has picked by employer tended to fall into categories of large organisational issues, such as change and ubiquitous technology connections which can make employees feel that they are always on the job. By contrast, employees pointed more directly to specific elements of their personal work experience. For example, employees ranked organisation culture — including a lack of teamwork and a tendency to avoid accountability — third on their stress list, while employers ranked it last. Conversely, employers identified insufficient work/life balance as the top stressor for workers, while employees ranked it sixth.

July 1, 2016

Workers say increased recruitment would cut workplace stress ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The tumultuous events of this week won’t have helped, as nearly half of all employees already say recruitment freezes have left them feeling under-resourced and under-staffed at work, leading to increased workplace stress. Research by MetLife Employee Benefits claims that 46 percent of employees believe their organisation has not recruited enough since the economic downturn with 40 percent saying workplace stress would be reduced if employers took on more people. This is despite the fact that around 42 percent of employees say their company helps staff to deal with work pressure and stress and nearly one in three (31 percent) say employers help new recruits to understand the pressure involved in their job. And while companies are investing in workplace benefits – with around 50 percent of employees having access to a range of wellbeing benefits including medical care, gym memberships, counselling services and flexible working hours, they are not always seeing the benefits.

May 24, 2016

A fifth of staff experience more stress at home than in the workplace ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Home may not be the haven we might assume, meaning that employers who encourage staff to work from home may actually be adding to their stress levels. Around a fifth of employees find their domestic lives more stressful than their working lives and many either don’t want to discuss it with managers or feel unable to, claims a new report from MetLife Employee Benefits. According to Building Resilience in the Workplace, 19 percent of employees overall are more stressed at home than at work, with slightly more female respondents to the study claiming to be stressed more by their home lives than the workplace. Around 21 percent of women say their home life is more stressful compared to 15 percent of men. The research claims that 67 percent of employees say domestic issues – including childcare, looking after elderly parents and financial pressures – are having an impact on their work performance.

May 11, 2016

Work is most common cause of stress, anxiety and depression ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Work pressures are the most common cause of stress in this country, with over a third (34 percent) of people in a poll saying it has contributed to mental health problems; while 20 percent say juggling a work/life balance also plays a major role in causing stress. Research from Aviva ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week (16-22 May) found that 12 million UK adults suffering from stress, anxiety or depression in the past year did not seek help, with many too embarrassed to do so. Stress (33 percent), anxiety (29 percent) and depression (23 percent) are the most common mental health conditions experienced in the past year, but of those who experienced stress, 55 percent did not seek support, while 48 percent did not seek help for anxiety. More people are taking action on depression, but around three in ten (29 percent) of those suffering with this in the last year still did not ask for support.

April 29, 2016

9 in 10 UK office workers stressed by meeting room technology ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

Meeting room technology which does not work seamlessly is a hindrance for productivity, with 86 percent experiencing serious “meeting stress” when grappling with it during meetings, according to research from Vanson Bourne and Barco. Among the biggest challenges for UK employees were sharing content and screens, and finding the right cables to connect to devices. In trying to deal with problems, staff are wasting significant amounts of their valuable time: 60 percent try to fix problems themselves, 49 percent call support, 30 percent end up giving up. 15 percent even postpone meetings until technology problems can be fixed. The vast majority (90 percent) actually pre-prepare for failures: preparing handouts as alternatives to tech, coordinating with IT in advance, and 44 percent even do a tech rehearsal. As a result of struggling with technology in meeting rooms, a quarter of UK office workers have missed important deadlines, and some have even missed out on personal opportunities like promotions (7 percent).