I was recently asked to provide the following research with my readers and it got me thinking about stress at work and if I in fact feel stressed at work. The research included the results:
- 43 per cent of teachers comfort eat to de-stress
- 76 per cent of teachers talk to their family and friends about their work related stress
- 41 per cent of teachers list incompetent colleagues as a reason for their workplace stress
In thinking about the above information, I know I don’t comfort eat and I do not list incompetent colleagues (I know I am not a teacher) but I do talk to my family and friends about work related stress. The stress for me at the moment is the “unknown”, I am currently in an acting role. This means that my tasks and responsibilities greatly differ from my contract and salary, but I am hoping this is soon to change – which will remove the stress.
I did think that being away from the children will stress me out, but it really doesn’t. I know that they are being well looked after, they are cared for and they are doing fun things when I am at work: making it all possible for them to be able to have lots of fun!!
You can read up on the research on the Viking World website: http://www.vikingworld.co.uk
Two pieces of research combined have helped to give an idea of stress levels – and their causes – among UK office workers. Conducted by small business supplies company Viking, the first piece of research was a survey of 2,000 office workers across the UK asking how stressed they were and what were the causes. The second piece of research involved a 200-strong secret army of stress volunteers who took part in a ‘stress thermometer’ test. It measured their body temperature – which is a tried and tested way of gauging a level of stress within people – and were asked about their stress levels via a questionnaire, all throughout a five day period.
- 41 per cent of those 200 volunteers recorded a stress temperature of 18c – 24c which indicates a level ranging from ‘highly stressed’ to ‘anxiety’. The least stressful day was found to be on a Wednesday with just 32 per cent registering stress that day Friday, surprisingly was one of the more stressful days of the week – only 11 per cent of people reported being stress free.
- The most stressful time of day is first thing Monday morning, with 58 per cent of people recording signs of stress. The second most stressful time was the end of the working day on Monday [52 per cent]. A staggering 52 per cent of those tested worked more 10 hours’ unpaid overtime every week.
- The most stressful time of day is first thing Monday morning, with 58 per cent of people recording signs of stress. The second most stressful time was the end of the working day on Monday [52 per cent]. A staggering 52 per cent of those tested worked more 10 hours’ unpaid overtime every week.
- More than 25 per cent of UK office workers feel stressed every day, with around a fifth fearing losing their job due to the current economic climate.
- 44 per cent of UK office workers say stress at work is physically affecting their health. More than a third [36 per cent] blame incompetent colleagues while a staggering 66 per cent blame their current workload.
- Just over a quarter [26 per cent] says their inconsiderate boss is a cause of stress in their office.
- A third [36 per cent] of those surveyed said that they comfort eat at home at night to combat a stressful work day. Of those 41 per cent were women and 27 per cent were men.
- IT workers were the most stressed – 33 per cent of them said they felt under pressure every day. 41 per cent of teachers blamed incompetent colleagues on their stress levels. Astonishingly 44 per cent of those working in HR cited an inconsiderate boss.
- 44 per cent of those surveyed say they work unpaid overtime just to cope with workload. This is reflected in a separate study that conducted secret tests with 200 office workers from around the UK.
Viking’s stress expert, Neil Shah, who conducted the secret tests with the volunteer office workers, said:
“This research shows that many people in the UK today are working under some dangerous levels of stress – they may not even be aware of how stressed they are. Tension and stress can manifest themselves in many different ways, but can be linked to long term health problems such as headaches, heart problems and depression. From a business point of view a stress free worker is a more productive, proactive and valuable one. Ensuring really simple things like people taking a lunch break or doing exercises in the office can make a huge difference.”
