73 per cent of UK employees suffer from 'work-related stress'

Long hours, hefty commutes, high demands and constant mobile device activity have been cited as some of the reasons why UK employees are becoming increasingly stressed. To coincide with last Wednesday's National Stress Awareness Day (November 4), research from Britain’s Healthiest Company found that almost three quarters (73 per cent) of employees in the UK suffer from at least one dimension of work-related stress, with time pressure being named as the biggest contributor.

Research from Britain’s Healthiest Company (BHC), by Vitality, Mercer and The University of Cambridge also showed:

• Time pressure is the most common stress factor followed by employees not being consulted about change at work, and a lack of choice about tasks done at work
• Roughly 60 per cent said their job made organising their life outside of work difficult and more than a third said they worked in excess of 40 hours per week
• 50 per cent of employees said they were able to work flexible hours and more than 50 per cent were able to work from home
• But while over 70 per cent of companies surveyed are offering at least one initiative designed to tackle stress, just one third offer separate work-life balance programmes
• Corporate work-life balance programmes are the most effective at reducing stress at work, with 71 per cent of employees who tried them saying they were of benefit
• Of the 41 companies offering this type of programme, on average only 8 per cent of employees use them