ComPsych Survey: Nearly Half of Employees Suffer Workplace Stress

Nearly half of employees report experiencing moderate to severe levels of on-the-job stress, according to a new report.

ComPsych Corp., a Chicago-based provider of employee assistance programs, published this finding in a survey of 2,500 employees at some 15,000 organizations that ComPsych services in the U.S. and worldwide.

When asked to rate their current level of stress on a scale of one to five, 17.3% of surveyed employees answered “five” (high) and 35.5% answered “four.” Smaller percentages pegged their stress level at “three” (30.3%), “two” (13.4%) and “one” (3.5%)

When asked how stress has impacted their work, more than half (56.3%) said they had “difficulty focusing on tasks” and 21% said they committed “errors and/or missed deadlines.” Approximately one in 7 workers (14.9%) said they “missed days” or were late to work (14.4%).

An additional 15.5% said they had “trouble getting along with coworkers/superiors” and 28.1% cited additional stress-related problems.

When asked to rate their workplace on the basis of six criteria, employees who gave the most favorable ratings (4 or 5) outnumbered those who provided the least favorable ratings (1 or 2) on five of the six criteria. Approximately one in 8 workers (12.88%) gave a “5” rating when asked if work demands are reasonable and 26.02% provided a “4” rating. In contrast, those offering “1” and “2” scores totaled 10.88% and 18.19%, respectively.