The 19th annual Health and Wellbeing at Worksurvey is based on responses from 1,078 HR professionals, 37% of whom reported an increase in stress-related absence at their organisation over the past year.
When asked about the contributory factors at work, 43% cited poor management, up from 32% the year before, making it the second most frequently mentioned factor.
Workloads or volume of work was the most frequently cited cause, by 62% of respondents.
The survey found that 71% of organisations had taken steps to identify and reduce workplace stress, but only 50% of these had undertaken training for line managers on managing stress.
This compared to 48% undertaking risk assessments or stress audits, 40% providing personal resilience training for staff and 15% deploying the HSE’s Stress Management Standards.
At 30% of organisations, the level of stress-related absence had stayed the same, while only 8% reported a decrease.
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