Around 75% of managerial staff admit that stress is affecting their performance at work, according t...
Around 75% of managerial staff admit that stress is affecting their performance at work, according to a survey for PPP healthcare.
Taking the Strain, a joint report by PPP and the Institute of Management, also reveals that bullying in the workplace is still rife, with one in 10 executives saying that they had experienced bullying and intimidation first hand.
While most managers looked forward to going to work - only 18% said they did not - nearly half said they were unhappy with their workplace culture.
The top five factors causing them unreasonable pressure which boiled over into stress were meeting deadlines, constant interruptions, lack of support, incompetent senior managers and poor internal communication.
"As a result, managers displayed a range of stress symptoms including excessive tiredness, disturbed sleep, loss of temper, headaches and lowered sex drive."
Dudley Lusted, director of corporate healthcare development at PPP healthcare, said that executives must learn to spot the pressure points and act to curb stress if they are to survive and thrive in the pressured work environment of today.
He said: "The prevalence of stress among UK managers indicates a serious failure of corporate governance. Organisational stress is essentially a risk management issue and, as tools to address it are now to hand, employers that neglect it are clearly breaking the law with potentially expensive consequences.
"Managers too must be brave in tackling organisational stress and do their part to challenge the misguided notion that taking excessive pressure without complaining is just part of the job."
One factor that could be adding to workplace stress is the number of mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in the last year. Change in the workplace often leads to restructuring and consequentially increased responsibilities for those left behind.
Almost a quarter of executives said their organisations had gone down this road and nearly a third said they were expanding into new markets.
