The Welsh are depressed, northerners are turning to drink, the Scots are too ill to work, and there’s little romance in the south east – as UK workers struggle to deal with their stress levels.
 
These are some of the most recent findings in the latest edition of the 24-7 survey – a national look at health, well-being and working life conducted by the Work Life Balance Centre in Leicestershire, and Coventry University.  This is the 10th year the survey has been held, with around 2,000 respondents taking part.
 
A regional round up of data revealed that
• More workers in Wales suffered from stress induced depression than anywhere else in the UK (60.6%),
• Employees in the north of England are among the most likely to turn to increased drinking or smoking to deal with stress,
• Sickness absence caused by stress were was highest in Scotland with an average of 8 days off a year,
• When it comes to romance- those in the south east of England missing out with more than 4 in 10 people saying over working left them too tired for sex,
• Those in the east of England tend to be the least irritable (48.9% of respondents from this region).
 
Julie Hurst, Director of the Work Life Balance Centre said: “The regional data throws up some interesting picture of working life all around the UK, but overall the picture is still a bleak one. In terms of ill health caused by stress the level of 4 out of our top 5 symptoms all increased this year, (chronic fatigue, sleeplessness, irritability, and headaches and migraine all went up, while lack of concentration fell by less than 1%).
 
“While this is bad enough, more people feel that their workloads are increasing means things could well be set to get worse in the future. With the current economic climate, and job losses, people may well be too worried to talk about how bad they are feeling. Of course all of this stress and illness is costing employers a great deal not just in terms of sickness absence, but also in the possibility of employees making mistakes. Our research shows that when people feel their workload is running out of control they are 16 times more likely to make a serious error”.
 
Among the effects of stress recorded in the survey were a series of road traffic accidents, a train driver getting permission to go through a red signal, financial errors, employees injuring themselves while rushing to finish work, some collapsing at work due to the strain and even suffering depression leading to attempted suicide.
 
Julie Hurst added: “Despite the focus of attention on the number of hours people work, it is control that is the fundamental factor. The survey once again shows that many of those working the longest hours do not necessarily feel stressed or experience stress induced ill-health, but those feeling out of control do.”
 
Prof Les Worrall, Professor of Strategic Analysis at Coventry University, said: “ While more than 8 in 10 workers who felt their working life was out of control reported suffering stress-related ill health, this fell sharply to only 5% of those who felt that their working life was never been out of control.  Clearly, the degree of control respondents felt they had over their working lives was strongly related to their likelihood of suffering stress-related ill-health.
 
“Those workers feeling out of control were also much less likely to feel loyal to their organisation, more likely to feel exploited, and significantly more likely to want to leave their current jobs. Sadly the survey once again highlights that when people turn to their employers for help with these issues many are disappointed with the support they receive. Clearly we need to take steps to improve this situation”.
 
Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of the survey should visit www.24-7survey.co.uk to download their free report.
 
For more information: Contact Julie Hurst, Work Life Balance Centre, on 01530 273 056 or mobile 07767 33 33 85.
 
 
Julie Hurst is the director of the Work Life Balance Centre and author of a book on spending less time at work. She is a frequent speaker at work life balance conferences and has appeared as a life balance coach on BBC1 television. The Work Life Balance Centre is an organisation that promotes practical solutions to improve work life balance through active workload management. For more information please contact the Work Life Balance Centre on (tel/fax) 01530 273056, email: hurstj@worklifebalancecentre.co.uk, (out of hours: 01530 270969, mobile 07767 333385)
 
Denise Skinner is Professor of HRM (Human Resource Management) and Associate Dean (Applied Research) in the Faculty of Business, Environment and Society at Coventry University. Denise undertakes research in HRM and change management with a particular interest in issues relating to diversity; trust in the context of the employment relationship, and the evaluation of the impact of HRM and change initiatives. Denise can be contacted at d.skinner@coventry.ac.uk.
 
Les Worrall is Professor of Strategic Analysis at Coventry University.  He has an extensive track record in conducting research on the theme of work and organisations.  He is co-author of the Quality of Working Life series of reports published since 1997 by the Chartered Management Institute and he has published extensively on the organisational change and its effects; work intensification; management and leadership styles; job insecurity; and, work-life balance.  He is a director of Axiom Research Limited, a company he established in 2007.