Over half of managers would prefer if their employees told them they need to take a day off due to stress whilst just under half of the employees have admitted to feeling stressed but not taking a day off from work.
This research comes from Cigna, a global health service which found that 51 per cent of managers would prefer it if their employees told them they need to take a day off due to stress. Whereas just under half (47 per cent) of employees confessed to feeling stressed but not taking a sick day off from work.
Managers themselves seem to suffer from an ‘always-on’ culture with 87 per cent of them saying they have their work phone on them outside of working hours, on holiday or on annual leave.
As well as 62 per cent of managers saying they do not take their full annual leave. Still, 61 per cent of managers would like their employees to be more transparent about how they deal with stress.
To add to the situation, under half (44 per cent) of managers have not been trained to deal with stress. Even though 20 per cent of employees say they suffer from the ‘always-on’ feeling as well. Some employees (11 per cent) have even canceled their holidays due to work commitments.
Only 10 per cent of employees have taken a day off due to stress but 64 per cent of them claimed they did so due to a physical illness.
Stress has the ability to manifest in to physical problems as well with 85 per cent stating it led to sleeping problems, 75 per cent headaches and 71 per cent to high blood pressure.
Phil Austin, Cigna Europe CEO, said:
Mental health and physical health – mind and body – are interconnected. We’re taking action so that people and healthcare professionals better understand the link means we can do more, sooner, to help people stay healthy. We can’t hide from the fact that the workplace is a stressful place to be, but what we can do is give managers and employees the tools to manage their stress in a structured and engaging way.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
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