Public Servant Lifestyle

Frontline public servants are working in six of the most stressful jobs in the country, according to new research.

Teachers, police officers and those in the social care sector are working in Britain’s six most stressful jobs, according to fresh research. Emergency paramedics, call centre staff and prison officers complete the top six in a ‘premier league of pressure’, while the least stressed occupations are: private sector executives, analysts, and school lunchtime supervisors.

In total twenty-six occupations were evaluated in three stress-related areas; physical health, psychological well-being, and job satisfaction, by Manchester-based business psychologists Robertson Cooper.

According to the same findings, the people in the big chairs – the Directors of companies - not only enjoy the highest levels of job satisfaction, but are also least likely to be injured – or come to psychological harm – as a result of their occupation, the research suggests.

The most stressful jobs – according to these findings – all seem to involve direct contact with the public in emotionally intense situations and/or where the working environment is governed by strict rules. There is also evidence that, in the main, a boss’s job is considerably less stressful than a worker’s.

Stress High, Satisfaction Low

“The scores reveal that teachers experience higher stress levels and lower job satisfaction levels than both head teachers and teaching assistants, neither of which score above the norm,” said Dr Joe Jordan, business development manager at Robertson Cooper. “One possible reason for this is that teachers are working in close contact with children every working day and therefore will be experiencing consistently high levels of emotional pressure.”

“The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) reports that around half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level that they believe is making them ill, and work-related stress costs the economy about £3.7 billion every year,” added Robertson Cooper managing director, Professor Ivan Robertson. “The HSE indicates that ill-health can result if stress is prolonged or intense, with negative effects including heart disease, back pain, stomach complaints, anxiety and depression.”

The research was carried out under strict scientific conditions using ‘a short stress evaluation tool’ (ASSET) which measures a range of work-related ‘stressors’ and ‘stress outcomes’. ASSET has been used to measure stress in more than 46 organisations, resulting in a large dataset of over 25,000 individuals across different occupations.

Robertson Cooper – an organisation with its historic roots in the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST), aims to maximise the wellbeing and performance of people at work – and commissioned the research to help develop ways of reducing workplace stress and boosting efficiency.

More information available in Work Environment, Professional Groups