World Health Organisation (WHO) has dubbed stress the health epidemic of the 21st century. Britain in the grip of a stress epidemic because of ‘always on’ workplace culture. 73% of UK employees suffer from work- related stress, leading to an annual £57bn loss in productivity and 49% of all working days lost in 2016-2017.
Sheffield ranked second in city stress index According to the report 86 per cent of people who live in Sheffield say they are stressed at least some of the time during a typical week, the second highest score in the UK behind Cardiff. The report also found seven per cent of Sheffield residents feel stressed constantly, 41 per cent say their personal finances are the main cause of their stress, 37 per cent are worried about their health and 36 per cent are concerned about the health of their friends and family.
Stress at work is spiralling out of control, with many employees in danger of completely burning out, a survey shows while a psychologist has warned that over-stress is ‘a time bomb ticking away in the basement of UK plc’.
The survey, reported the Daily Mail, warns that 25% of those in professions such as teaching, social work and the police are suffering from serious stress. In other occupations up to 15% of staff have problems with those in the private sector suffering from the requirement to deliver higher and higher productivity per person.
In the public sector – particularly in the NHS – staff are being asked to take on more responsibility with fewer resources, the survey leader Professor John McLeod of Abertay University, Dundee, said.
“People who need workplace counselling show signs of psychological distress equivalent to that found in out-patient psychiatric hospitals,” said McLeod, adding that the culture which gives employees and bosses the longest working hours in Europe must change or Britain will ‘break down’.