31 August 2018 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
A study has found a direct correlation between the level of occupational stress workers feel and the size of the company they work for.
Micro businesses employing a maximum of four members of staff were less likely than those in businesses of any other size to feel work-related stress, with 45 per cent of employees reporting this, according to a poll of 3,000 UK workers carried out by Perkbox, an employee benefits platform, as part of the 2018 UK Workplace Stress Report.
This is despite margins often being tighter and tensions or losses often being felt more keenly in smaller businesses.
This figure increases to 57 per cent for small businesses (5- 50 staff) and again to 62 per cent for small to medium-sized organisations (51-500 employees).
And workers at the largest sized businesses surveyed - those with more than 500 members of staff - report the greatest instances of staff experiencing workplace stress, with 65 per cent divulging this.
In fact, one in five (21 per cent) UK workers reveal they experience moderate to high levels of work-related stress several times a week.
Many businesses could see dips in productivity as a result - as the data reveals that 25 per cent of UK workers struggle to be as productive at work as they normally would be when experiencing stress.
Unfortunately, almost half (45 per cent) of UK workers say that their place of work does not have anything in place to help reduce employees' stress levels and improve their mental well-being.
Chieu Cao, CMO and co-founder at Perkbox, said: "Interestingly, it's those in micro businesses that are the least likely to experience work-related stress, despite those in smaller companies feeling the direct impact of business tensions or losses. It's fascinating to reveal that the level of occupational stress can directly correlate to the size of a business.
"It's more than clear that a happy workforce is a productive workforce. It's surprising to see that in 2018, employers are not doing more to ensure a happy, healthy and productive work environment, not only to protect staff against stress, but also to gain the very best results from the driven workforce."