Almost a fifth of employees (18%) feel stressed at work, according to recent data* whose survey data takes into consideration 20,000 employees across 10 countries. After stress, the next most dominant negative emotion was ‘unappreciated’ at 15%. When compared to data from 2022, 18% of employees were feeling both unappreciated and stressed, showing a slight increase.
Matt Stephens, CEO of Inpulse, said: “When looking at individual comments about why they feel stressed, the main reason is workload. Heavy workload and the pressure that comes with it are having a significant impact on people’s wellbeing (both physical and mental) and their work-life balance. Since the beginning of 2024 and across all Inpulse surveys we complete for employers, only 69% of people feel they can achieve a balance between their work and home life.
“We also found a close link between stress and unappreciation. This is perhaps not surprising, but our data shows just how strongly correlated they are.
“Employees feel they have an increased workload, yet don’t feel that it is being recognised or acknowledged by both the line manager and the senior leadership team. This emphasises how important it is that line managers are sufficiently trained and supported, and senior leaders make time to acknowledge and reflect back the company’s appreciation. When this isn’t addressed, it adds to an increase in sickness and attrition.”
The findings further revealed that a sense of collaboration has decreased since 2022 (83%), dropping significantly to 78% in 2024. In addition, bullying is creeping up as an issue in workplaces. In 2022, an average of 11% of employees said they had experienced bullying at work, with a substantial increase of +5% points in 2023 and 2024.
“It’s clearer than ever that without serious intervention amongst some managers, their own stress and workload often results in ugly behaviours that employees describe as bullying. Feelings of stress and unappreciation have been an issue for the last two years and will continue to be – unless significant action is taken. It’s not a simple fix. It requires making tough decisions, investing in coaching and development and commitment from all levels of leadership, to make this a priority,” concluded Stephens.
