Stress


The TUC’s latest (2016) biennial survey of over 1,000 trade union safety reps found that stress is the top concern in UK workplaces. Seven in 10 (70%) reps say that stress is a problem – a higher proportion than in any previous study. The survey also found that levels of stress are particularly high in the public sector, particularly in the civil service, where 93% of reps cited stress as one of their top five workplace concerns.


In March 2017, public services union UNISON called for action to address a “stress epidemic” resulting from years of austerity, job cuts and uncertainty. A UNISON survey of almost 10,000 union members found that stress is harming staff and services, but that employers rarely talk about the problem. Two-thirds of members reported that excessive demands of the job are the source of work-related stress. Nine in 10 respondents felt that they had been under too much pressure at some point over the previous year and almost nine in 10 (87%) reported that services sometimes suffer due to the pressure put on staff. But six in 10 people told the union that their employer had never approached them about stress and three quarters said that their employer had never surveyed them or their colleagues about the risk of stress at work. In addition, three quarters of respondents thought that their employer could do more to manage workplace stress.


“Employers should collect facts and information about stress in their workplace as part of a basic risk assessment.” UNISON advises. If they do not conduct a survey or discuss stress with their workforce, employers are unlikely to know what causes stress, or consequently how to best reduce stress in the workplace.”


Feeling the pressure? UNISON stress report 2017 can be found on the union’s website.