Are you struggling from work-related stress? Well, you’re not alone – 3 out of 5 people (59%) currently feeling stressed out by their job, and more than half (54%) have trouble sleeping because of work worries.
Maybe you’re even thinking of switching jobs. But if you are – have you ever thought about how stressful your job is compared to the rest of the UK? As April is Stress Awareness Month, Workwear Giant have creating the Job Quality Index, which has uncovered the most and least stressful job sectors.
The Job Quality Index is made up of three dimensions – earnings, stress levels and unpaid overtime. Each job sector has been scored out of 5 (with 5 indicating a ‘high job quality’) for each of the dimensions, whilst using the national averages as a comparison.
As of April 2019, the national averages are as it stands:
- National average wage – £24,000 per annum
- National average cases of stress – 1,320 cases per 100,000 people
- National average unpaid overtime – 7.5 hours a week
So, how does your job compare to the rest of the UK? Read on to discover.
If your occupation falls within the ‘top 5 most stressful job sectors’ – don’t worry! There are a lot of ways of identifying the symptoms that come hand in hand with workplace stress. Being aware of them is the first step of managing them too, so keep an eye out for:
- Worrying and not being able to stop – i.e. constantly asking questions or being concerned about upcoming deadlines.
- An inability to concentrate
- Struggling to make decisions, especially when they should be simple
- Feeling less creative
- Getting irritated easily
- Finding yourself being tearful
- Having sleep problems – whether that’s sleeping too much or not enough
- Suffering from headaches
If you work in HR and believe that a colleague is suffering from stress – it’s vital that you talk to the employee and find out if the reason for their stress is work related. Once you have both identified the problem, you can then find a solution that can be agreed on.
Most issues can always be solved and even if the colleague needs more help, talking to a charity like Mind can help.
© New To HR