In UK, anxiety at work has risen by 240%: Research
According to a research conducted by Inpulse, anxiety in employees has rocketed over the last year by 240 percent. The research, which includes views of 3,4411 UK employees, shows stress is another high negative emotion for employees, at 11 percent, while isolation rates stand at seven percent.
An emotion becomes dominant and will be felt and experienced in the organization if it rises above ten percent according to Inpulse, as it impacts an employer’s atmosphere and culture.
The survey took into account 11,000 employees internationally. Stress and Isolation show at ten percent and seven percent but anxiety shows at 12 percent, somewhat lower than the UK.
Matt Stephens, CEO and Founder of Inpulse and author of The Engagement Revolution, explained: “Extreme negative emotions are being driven by fears of job security (24 percent) and high workload (16 percent) and it simply is not sustainable for individuals to feel this for long periods of time.
“With so many people working from home, it has been harder to separate work life and personal life – for many of us the two have become intertwined. Therefore, as employers, we need to go beyond only caring for employees’ ‘work self’ and start to care for the whole being.”
Earlier reported in People Matters, in the Asia Pacific, according to a research by Willis Towers Watson, over nine in ten employees (92 percent) report some level of anxiety from the pandemic, with 55 percent indicating a moderate or high degree.
Mental health is a growing crisis. A study showed work-related stress can be a huge financial burden on society. This study took into account Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the EU-15. The total estimated cost of financial loss ranged between US$ 221.13 MN to $187 BN. The interesting aspect was that the majority of these losses were productivity related and a small percentage of the losses were due to health care and medical costs.
To know more about how mental well-being at work can be improved, read this special coverage by People Matters.
