The most common reasons for work-related stress in 2018

With the year drawing to a close,Reboot Digital Agency compiled a report detailing the most common reasons why UK workers were stressed at work in 2018.

Stress is such an important issue that constantly is in need to be addressed, figures from Heath and Saftey Executive (HSE), found that 595,000 workers are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, and in total 12.5 million working days lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety.

Jeff Phipps, managing director at ADP UK comments on the importance of addressing stress, saying “Employees who endure consistently high levels of stress are in danger of suffering from anxiety and even burnout. This can lead to more serious mental health issues, which will impact not only their performance, but also their career, and personal life for a long period of time. It is therefore in the interest of employers to help staff to manage stress and put a safety net in place before any issues become more serious.”

Through this survey, they found that there were a significant number of people who are stressed due to such a high volume of work. With 84% saying that this was the biggest aspect of their job to worry about. Linked to this, 79% of employees felt as if they were constantly set unrealistic expectations. This was closely followed by 76% who said that taking part in this survey would have been bothered by a colleagues lack of competence. 72% said that they constantly struggle to improve their work-life balance.

There are many ways that companies can reduce the likelihood of their workforce being stress, this can be through developing a healthy culture in the workplace, such as transparency, to ensure that employees are able to openly talk about their current dilemmas, and leaders could help them deal with these situations.

Johnathan Richards, CEO at BreatheHR discusses the positives of adopting this open culture in the workplace, saying. “Every time we overshare, we see a kick up in energy, people want to be treated like adults, other businesses could pluck up the courage to tell that things weren’t well, people benefit from honesty, it does take some people getting used to, but in the long term it gives them a level of responsibility, and it helps them in feeling more of a part of the business, and then they feel committed to overcommunicate, if you have a culture of being apparent, when you get it wrong people pick up the things that you do wrong and this helps in creating a healthy workplace culture” In addition to this, there are also many aspects of a business that can aid workers feeling less stress at work which can include, flexible hours, and working from home.

The main reasons for stress on this list included lack of progression opportunities at 63%, lack of job security at 59%, and 42% saying that the negative company culture that comes with the job plays a part in them being stressed. It’s important for companies to address these if employees are to work efficiently within their business.

Tom Shurville, MD and Founder of Distinctly, talks about how important career progression is to them, saying “Investment in our team and their career progression is part of our ethos and has always been a top priority. We value the continuing professional and personal development of our employees and encourage them to expand and update their skills through regular internal and external training that we fully support.”

Tom then went on to discuss the benefits of investing time into this, “As a result of this, we have members of staff who have grown with the company from the early days to the expansion we are seeing in the business today. By offering career progression our employees have remained with the company for many years – a positive impact that is beneficial to both Distinctly and the employees themselves.” So it has become apparent that not only does focusing on these points can reduce stress, but can also increase the chances of employees staying and developing well within a business.