Public Servant Lifestyle

Work overload is the main cause of stress in workplaces across Britain, according to a new survey of union safety reps. A Trades Union Congress (TUC) survey of 5,300 union safety reps shows that stress is now the main health and safety concern in Britain’s workplaces.

According to the TUC's findings 80% of safety reps - who reported that stress was a problem at their workplace - said workload was a major cause. Half of the reps who took part also cited change and staff cuts as factors.

Heart Attacks

TUC General Secretary John Monks said: "Britain’s workplaces are some of the most stressed in Europe, and it’s time to stop working harder and start working smarter. Long hours and heavy workloads combine to make a lethal mixture which leads to heart attacks, mental illness and social problems like divorce and alcoholism. It’s plainly a false economy to work people into the ground, and it’s the number one problem that needs to be tackled."

Breakdown

The worst areas for stress, according to union safety reps, are:

- Central government. A huge 72.5% of safety reps in government were worried about the effects stress was having on their colleagues.

- Banking, finance and insurance (72%)

- Education (71.5%)

- Health service (61.2%)

- Construction (15.3%) and manufacturing (30.8%) safety reps were the least likely to notice stress as a workplace hazard.

The regions where stress is worst are:

- English South East (60.5% of safety reps in the region cited stress as a problem)

- South West (60%)

- London (59%)

- Wales (57%)

- Scotland (56.5%)

- East Anglia was the least stressed out region, but even so nearly half (49.2%) of safety reps in the area said that it was one of their main concerns.

More information available in Work Life Balance, Work Environment