Tonight:
5°c
Office stress levels have soared in the recession as Londoners put in longer hours and worry about their future, research for the Standard has found.
Half of employees surveyed in the capital complained their workload had grown since last year, while only one in 10 said their in-tray was smaller.
The UKNow poll from global research firm Hall & Partners also found almost half the employees felt less secure in jobs than 12 months before, compared with 15 per cent who thought they were safer.
The number of jobless in the UK has hit 2.44 million, the highest level since 1995, and stands at 359,000 in the capital. Experts said redundancies were disastrous for morale because the “survivors” feel they have lost control over the course of their lives.
Deborah Mills, chief executive of Hall & Partners, said: “People feel they're working harder and are anxious about losing their jobs.”
Click on the image below to see the whole version
Nearly 500 people were surveyed and a third said they felt more stressed at work while almost one in five said there was “a more aggressive atmosphere at work”. Worryingly, many feel the impact could last for years with a third saying the downturn will damage “long-term career prospects” with only six per cent who say it will improve them. However, 61 per cent thought the longer-term outlook was unchanged.
The rise in stress appears most dramatic in worst-hit industries. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says more than six out of 10 employees in hotels and restaurants claim stress levels were higher, followed by 56 per cent in banking and finance, and 55 per cent in construction.
The extra stress caused by job worries — particularly for families with debt — will have a devastating impact on mental and physical health, practitioners warned. Psychotherapist Dr Nick Read said doctors were seeing a growing number of patients with unexplained symptoms linked to stress.
He said: “If your job goes, that can affect your identity. It has impacts on your family, relationships, what you can do for your children.
“Illnesses that are largely unexplained like irritable bowel syndrome and eating disorders are very common at the moment.”
Reader views (1)
Would the Evening Standard kindly inform Mervyn King and the rest of the City of London banking fraternity that the recession is NOT over, nor is it likely to be for at least another year. Perhaps if they would trouble themselves to step beyond the thresholds of their cossetted offices beyond the City, they would discover many on short-time working, many unemployed, many with severe financial difficulties, not of their own making. Perhaps that same fraternity could help with this question: Why do they continually spout that the 'worst is over', when they offer up no definition of what the 'worst' actually is?
- Joannie, London, England, 18/08/2009 21:56
Report abuse
