Working world: stress as high as in 2020, but more emotionally exhausted people
Workers in Switzerland are exposed to the same amount of stress in 2022 as they were in 2020, but the proportion of emotionally exhausted people has exceeded the 30 percent mark for the first time. The Covid 19 pandemic also contributed to this.
The stress level has thus been stable since 2018, but is higher than in 2014 and 2016, as Health Promotion Switzerland announced on Tuesday based on its Job Stress Index. According to the index, stress was in the health-critical range for 28.2 percent of those surveyed. This is 1.4 percentage points better than in the last survey in 2020.
Workers in the critical area report stresses that exceed their resources. For example, they experience more time pressure or more conflicts and receive less room for maneuver or appreciation.
In addition to these stresses surveyed for the stress index, new factors were added with the coronavirus pandemic. For example, concerns about the possible serious illness of relatives, social isolation, and increased use of information and communication technologies increased the burden.
Although this is not reflected in the index, it does show a connection with the health of those in employment, such as emotional exhaustion. The proportion of those who are emotionally exhausted has risen by 0.3 points since 2020 to 30.3 percent.
Less productive
All factors together lead to a decrease in productivity, as the health promotion wrote. 14.9 percent of working time is lost, according to the report. With a balanced relationship between workload and resources, the Swiss economy could increase its potential by 6.5 billion francs, according to Health Promotion.
Overall, Health Promotion attests to employees and employers coping well with the pandemic. Nevertheless, employers should perceive the rise in the number of emotionally exhausted as an alarm signal.
The Job Stress Index is based on a representative survey of 3022 employees between the ages of 16 and 65 conducted in February. Health Promotion Switzerland has been collecting the index regularly since 2014 in collaboration with the University of Bern and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW. (SDA)
