More than half (54%) of respondents cite that stress from work negatively affects their home life at least once a week, according to research by project management application service provider Wrike.
The stress epidemic: employees are looking for a way out, a report which surveyed 1,613 full-time employees aged between 18 and 64 living in the UK or US, also found that more than half (56%) of respondents have searched for a new job due to stress at work at some point during their careers; this compares to 54% who have been unable to sleep, 39% who have taken unplanned time off, 35% who have lost their temper at work and 18% who have asked for a pay rise. A quarter (25%) of respondents have quit their job due to workplace stress.
Almost two-fifths (41%) of UK respondents are moderately stressed at work, similar to 39% of US-based respondents. In total, 94% experience stress at work, while 26% of managers state they have high work stress levels; 6% have unsustainably high stress.
A total of 41% of respondents who work at organisations with 1,000 or more employees cite poor communications as their top stressor at work, while 26% feel that unrealistic deadlines cause them the most stress. Around 63% of female respondents and 52% of male respondents feel that the option to work from home could reduce their stress levels.
Just under a fifth (18%) of UK-based respondents think that stress causes them to shut down and be unproductive, compared to 8% of employees in the US. Meanwhile, around a third (30%) of UK respondents believe they can handle workplace stress, but that their quality of work suffers; only 21% of US-based respondents agree.
Around 69% of respondents with moderate to high stress levels say that receiving assignments with unrealistic deadlines would have a high impact on their workplace stress; 42% find being unable to locate information they have seen in the past as highly stressful and 37% cite spending too much time in meetings and not enough time doing their actual work as being a big influencer on their workplace stress.
Andrew Filev, chief executive officer at Wrike, said: “The pace of work has accelerated as a result of a number of converging trends, from digitalisation to the on-demand economy and globalisation. Work is often expected yesterday, and in trying to keep up with the sometimes breakneck speed, workers are stressing themselves to the point of burnout. This report shows that communication and collaboration must be optimised, just like the assembly line during the Industrial Revolution, with digital tools that make work as frictionless as possible, increase productivity, and create a place where teamwork can thrive.
“Communication isn’t just about one-to-one conversations, it’s about knowing where work stands and where to find information. Businesses that implement processes that keep information moving should find workers are less stressed and better able to balance work and life.”