Stress At Work Already Affects Almost 60% Of The Working Population - And The Problem's Getting Worse

Accompanying Press Release

Poor management style and excessive workloads are significant factors

As part of this year's National Stress Awareness Day(tm) held on 3rd November, research commissioned by the International Stress Management Association [UK] (ISMA ) and Royal & SunAlliance Healthcare & Assistance, has indicated that nearly 60% of working adults in Great Britain have experienced a great deal or fair amount of stress over the last three years, and that nearly 40% of these people have experienced a great deal of stress. Perhaps most importantly, over 40% of people who experience stress at work said that this had worsened over the last 12 months.

The results suggest that stress is widespread throughout the workplace, with many citing poor management style and excessive workloads as significant factors. Critically for organisations, 30% of those who have experienced significant levels of stress feel that it has lessened their commitment to their employers. Stress was also cited as having a negative effect on the health of over a third of the working population (amounting to approximately 8.5 million people), with men and women being equally affected by the problem.

"The survey clearly demonstrates that companies in Great Britain have a significant problem on their hands and unless they take steps to address it, it will begin to impact on their overall performance." said Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). "In order to 'get the job done', managers think they have to manage more autocratically than ever before, which I believe is a stress reaction to what I call the 'Too Lean Organisation' - which leads to the 'Too Mean Organisation' and poor management. As organisations look to create a 'leaner and meaner' workforce, they have to realise that there is a human cost and unless they nurture their employees, they could find that the cost is simply too great. Another contributing factor is Information Technology, which instead of helping workers, is simply overloading them electronically."

Steve Wood, Director of Royal & SunAlliance, Healthcare & Assistance said: "The figures show that almost 6 out of 10 working adults in the UK have suffered from stress in some way over the last 3 years. At Royal & SunAlliance, we have created a range of health-related products and services which not only help to deal with stress, they also help prevent it. Stress is not just about work pressure. There can be any number of contributory factors and unless we work to identify and isolate all of these, it will not go away. With this number of employees affected, UK companies have got to start taking this seriously. It should be a boardroom issue."

"From the research it is clear that we are all living in an increasingly high expectation society which, whether we like it or not, is now a fact of life," said David Newth, chairperson for ISMA. "ISMA's National Stress Awareness Day seeks to highlight this serious subject which must be addressed for the health of employers and employees alike."

National Stress Awareness Day(tm) is an annual event and is held on the first Wednesday in November. Sponsored this year by Royal & SunAlliance, the event is organised by the International Stress Management Association (UK) or ISMA, which is a registered charity with a multi-disciplinary professional membership. ISMA exists to promote sound knowledge and best practice in the prevention and reduction of human stress. It sets professional standards for the benefit of individuals and organisations using the services of its members.

As a provider of healthcare and assistance products to the consumer and corporate sector, Royal & SunAlliance is aware of the negative impact stress can have on an individual and the organisation. We support the work of the International Stress Management Association in placing this topic firmly on the national agenda through sponsoring National Stress Awareness Day TM. To demonstrate our commitment to the management and reduction of stress in the workplace we have also entered into a stress research project with the Centre for Business Psychology at Manchester School of Management (UMIST).

Royal & SunAlliance, through its specialist company First Assist Group Limited, is a leading provider of Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP'S) and counselling services. These products and services were developed to address problems at an early stage, providing expert assistance in situations which affect a persons capacity to lead a balanced, stable and productive life.

Royal & SunAlliance Healthcare and Assistance Services provides a wide range of products and services for commercial and personal customers. With a gross income in excess of 163225 million and with over 900 employees throughout the UK, the Healthcare and Assistance business forms a major part of Royal & SunAlliance's Personal Finance Services. With headquarters in Bournemouth, it also operates from centres in Bradford, Halifax, Hinkley, Bristol, Horsham, Purley, Sutton and Beckham.

• Nearly 60% of working adults have experienced a great deal or fair amount of stress at work in the last two or three years. Of these nearly 40% have experienced a great deal of stress.
• Of those that already feel they have experienced a great deal or fair amount of stress, 51% feel their levels of stress has increased in the past year.
• 37% have experienced a heavy or excessive workload in the past 12 months.
• 35% have experienced a poor management style.
• Over 35% of the working adult population feel their stress levels have increased over the past 12 months, with a further 36% feeling their stress levels have stayed the same.
• If you experience stress at work it is more likely to have a negative effect on commitment to an employer. For the entire adult working population 20%, or over 4 million workers have experienced a decrease in commitment to their employers as a result of stress.
• 35% say stress has had a negative effect on their health. This equates to approximately 8.5 million workers.
• There is no significant difference between men's and women's stress levels.

• Inglewood Health and Hydro
• Classic FM
• B&H Liquid Crystal Devices Ltd
• Carole Spiers Associates
• Stress in Perspective
• The Concept Company Ltd

Technical details

MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 978 adults aged 15+ working full or part-time in 160 sampling points throughout Great Britain. Fieldwork was conducted from 8-12 October 1999. All interviews were conducted in-home. Data have been weighted to the known profile of the British population.