Employees reaching out for emotional support for work-related concerns are most likely to cite problems with daily work activities, which include lack of autonomy, conflicting tasks, unclear objectives and lack of clarity regarding their role and mission, according to the global Workplace Stress Index released by wellbeing provider Workplace Options (WPO).
Poor work-life balance was the second most frequently reported issue by employees seeking help.
The WPO Workplace Stress Index represents WPO’s analysis of wellbeing data collected over the last nine months from more than 17,000 employees of small to Fortune 500 companies.
The Index identified stress (74 percent) followed by anxiety (27 percent) as the leading symptoms self-reported by workers seeking emotional support.
“The workplace is experiencing a tremendous amount of disruption related to COVID-19, including supply chain issues, and workforce shortages,” said Stephen Galliano, WPO’s Chief Customer Officer and a licensed clinical psychologist. “It is no surprise that employees are feeling somewhat lost and overwhelmed.”
The Workplace Stress Index plays an important role in helping employers to identify and address potential areas for workplace health improvement.
“When stress is attributable to resolvable issues like role ambiguity or unclear objectives, there are immediate steps a manager can take to help rectify the situation,” Galliano said. “Even something simple like reviewing with an employee their key job functions and how their contributions support organizational objectives can have a big impact on engagement and emotional wellbeing.”
While the Workplace Stress Index is released on a biannual basis, WPO provides its clients with 24/7 access to anonymized and aggregated data via a dashboard. This tool gives clients the opportunity to compare their workforce needs to that of companies of similar sizes, industries, and regions.
The WPO Workplace Stress Index ranks the top four global work-related issues, as referenced by employees:
- Daily work activities (31 percent)
- Work-life balance (27 percent)
- Job performance (18 percent)
- Tension/conflict with manager (16 percent)
When looking at specific regions, there are some variations. For example, in India job performance (38 percent) was the most frequently identified workplace issue. In China, conflict or tension with a manager (25 percent) and conflict or tension with a colleague (21 percent) were the second and third most reported problems following concerns with daily work (33 percent).
WPO’s Workplace Stress Index also includes a silver lining. The data showed that in most cases when employees reached out for emotional support, their commitment to their employer had not waivered. Fifty-two percent reported they were highly committed to their organization and 35 percent said they were moderately committed. This is one of several data points that WPO will track to identify potential workplace trends.
For more information about Workplace Options visit www.workplaceoptions.com. Click here to receive future Workplace Stress Index notifications.
