A new survey of 1,000 full-time workers in the UK and US professional and technology services sectors has revealed that nearly half (45%) are highly stressed and experience stress often or always. This has a major impact on the business risk–increasing costs, reducing efficiency, and putting stability of workforce at risk.
Walking on Earth, a leader of workplace stress management in the UK, conducted a study that revealed high employee stress costs UK companies more than PS4million* per year. The findings, in the face of rising operational costs and changing market conditions, make it clear that stress is more than a concern for wellbeing. It is a business risk, contributing to lost workdays, rising costs, or failure to comply with regulations.
Researchers studied the relationship between business risk and stress in high-paying, high-intensity environments within the legal, finance, and technology industries. The headline results were shocking:
Nearly half (45%) of the workforce is highly stressed
Stress is a measurable risk for business and costs UK employers PS4,355,613 per year (PS9 679 per employee).
Presenteeism, which is also known as absenteeism, costs UK employers PS1,917 for each employee every year.
Stressed employees are 8 times more likely to take sick leave than those with low stress levels
High-stressed employees are more than 3.7 times likely to resign compared to low-stressed employees
Stress is a major factor in the professional services sector. 12% of all employees are at risk for compliance violations, and even operational failures.
There were some interesting differences between the different sectors. In the research, 52% of the employees in the legal sector were affected by stress. Employees in the legal industry who are under high stress are also 1.6x as likely to be mentally disengaged as those in finance or technology. Employees in the technology sector who were under high stress were 1.4x as likely to miss deadlines and make mistakes than their counterparts from other industries. The research focused on the effects of stress in relationships at work. Data revealed that people in finance had 1.5x more hostile feelings toward their co-workers due to stress. This is likely because they are frustrated and have conflict with each other.
Many businesses are stuck in a cycle of reaction, spending a lot on stress-related illnesses after they occur, instead of tackling the cause. These findings show that stress management must be integrated into corporate strategies to reduce risk, in order to prevent workforce losses and protect business performance.
Reeva Misra said, “For far too long, employee strain has been viewed as a HR issue, rather than an operational and financial risk. The data are clear: Stress is actively undermining the stability of workforces, driving costs up, and affecting business resilience. “We’ve reached the tipping point and inaction is not an option.”
Without intervention, businesses are likely to continue seeing a decline in employee retention and performance. The smartest strategy is prevention–embedding stress management into the core of business risk planning, using science-driven solutions that protect both employees and the bottom line.”
The first time HR News published the post Highly Stressed Employees Cost UK Professional Services Firms More Than PS4 Million a Year.
