More than half of office workers surveyed in 8 European countries say they have experienced stress recently. Mostly — because of work-related issues.
These are the results of a survey conducted by Gradus Research.
Office workers took part in the survey:
- Germany;
- France;
- Italy;
- UK;
- Spain;
- The Netherlands;
- Poland;
- Ukraine.
The highest level of emotional stress is among office workers in Ukraine. But, as the study emphasized, it has nothing to do with work.
From west to east
More than half (56%) of office workers surveyed in 8 European countries say they have experienced stress recently.
- For obvious reasons, the level of emotional stress among office workers in Ukraine is higher and amounts to 78%.
- The countries closest to Ukraine in terms of stress among office workers are Poland and Germany, where about two-thirds of respondents declared recent emotional stress (61% and 60%, respectively).
- Respondents from Spain and the Netherlands are more relaxed and experienced such emotions less than other countries surveyed (42%).
It’s not millennials who suffer the most
Despite the widespread belief that millennials face the most difficulties in their lives due to various factors (building a family, career, raising children, etc.), the study shows that Generation Z office workers — respondents aged 25-34 are more stressed.
The share of millennials (respondents aged 35-44) who experienced strong negative emotions was about half (53%), as well as representatives of Generation X (51% in the 45-55 age group).
Causes of stress
The top 5 main factors that cause stress among office workers include work, financial issues, family relationships, personal health, and the socio-political situation in the country.
- Work and related issuesis the primary factor that causes emotional stress among respondents in all countries surveyed, except Ukraine — in Ukraine, this indicator is the second most common (38% of respondents), while the first place is taken bysocio-political situation in the country(52% of office workers surveyed), which is obviously related to the challenges of war. Respondents from other countries experienced negative emotions for a similar reason to a much lesser extent, including 27% in Germany, 19% in France, 12% in Spain, and 10% in Italy.
- For about a third (34%) of office workersfinancial issuescause stress — and this is most significantly felt by respondents from the UK (45%). In Ukraine, this figure was 36%, which is the average value among the countries participating in the study. In Poland, the number of surveyed office workers who are stressed because of financial issues is the lowest (25%).
- A quarter of respondents have recently experienced strong negative emotions due tofamily issues and relationships.Among all age groups, Gen Z respondents were the most concerned about this (31%), compared to 21% of millennials and 20% of Gen X.
- The state of your own healthis a cause of emotional stress for 22% of office workers surveyed, with the highest rate in France (34%). Poland and Ukraine are next, with almost identical numbers of respondents experiencing stress in this regard (25% and 24%, respectively).
- Global socio-political situationis of the highest concern to Ukrainian office workers (31%) among respondents from all countries surveyed. This is followed by Germany (27%), the Netherlands (21%), France (19%) and the UK (19%).