Medicash festive stress survey ‘troubling’
RESEARCH has revealed that the Christmas break may offer no relief
from workplace stress for employees, with 73% of people worried that work will spoil their festive break.
The study, commissioned by Liverpool health cash plan provider Medicash, found that over a quarter of people (27.7%) worried that they would end up missing out by having to work over the festive season, while over 23% worried that their Christmas would be plagued by thoughts of work.
Surveying more than 1,000 workers across the UK, the study found that although 58% of people had not voluntarily taken extra hours during the Christmas period, over half (50.5%), had previously had their Christmas break interrupted by work, with 37% claimingit had happened more than once.
Results showed that personnel in the IT and telecoms sector were more likely to have to work over Christmas (39.8%), followed closely by retail, catering and leisure workers (39.4%).
People working in the finance sector were most likely to be distracted from Christmas merriment by thoughts of heavy workloads and looming deadlines (39%), while those working in the professional services sector were the most worried that they wouldn’t get their work finished in time for the holidays.
Workers in the north were most worried about having to work through the holidays, with Manchester coming out on top (40%), followed by Newcastle (34%) and Liverpool (31%) and in the Midlands, Birmingham (29.8%).
Sue Weir chief executive of Medicash said: “The Christmas break can offer a welcome reprieve from the stresses and pressures of work, however the results of the survey show that for many, this might not be the case.
“Workplace stress is a very real issue affecting over 400,000 people in the UK every year, amounting to 10.4 million lost working days and costing UK businesses an average of £3.7bn each year.
“The results of the study are very troubling, showing that many people not only feel pressured to take on extra work to pay for Christmas, but also feel an inability to relax and switch-off over the holiday period.
“It’s important that employers are aware of this issue and make every effort to avoid making unrealistic demands on their employees, which can result in adding extra pressure and strain, to what is traditionally an extremely stressful time of year.”
