The prevalence of stress in the American workplace is so high that most workers have accepted it as a way of life. Odds are, so have you. But is something wrong when stress, instead of being an occasional state, becomes the norm? Wellness experts have been referring to American stress levels as an epidemic for years, and with good reason.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), 77% of Americans reported being stressed out by work in the last month. About six in ten (57%) indicated they experienced burnout due to work-related stress.
We’ve aggregated the latest workplace stress statistics to get the word out about this important topic. What we didn't expect to find was that:
1. Stress is not an issue we face alone.
2. Stress can lead to burnout, but it is also a road to excellence, depending on how you manage it.
In addition to many more interesting findings we discuss throughout this article, these are the statistics that shocked us the most:
The Key 2024 Workplace Stress Statistics Everyone Should Know About
- Workplace stress has a $300 billion annual price tag in the U.S. alone.
- Nearly half (43%) of U.S. workers report feeling tense or stressed during their workday. This number increases to over three-fifths (61%) for those with lower psychological safety at work.
- Younger workers are more likely to feel tense or stressed during the workday compared to older workers. Specifically, 48% of workers aged 18-25, 51% aged 26-43, and 42% aged 44-57 reported feeling tense or stressed at work, while only 30% of workers aged 58-64 and 17% of those aged 65+ reported the same.
- 15% of workers described their workplace as somewhat or very toxic.
- Over two-thirds (67%) reported experiencing, in the past month, at least one symptom commonly linked to workplace burnout, such as lack of interest, motivation, or energy, feelings of loneliness or isolation, and a lack of effort at work.
- Burnout is negatively affecting employee retention in significant ways. 43% of Millennials and 44% of Gen Z workers have recently left a job as a direct result of burnout.
- Despite this, a fifth of workers in these groups reported that their employer was not doing enough to prevent employee burnout because they do not take it seriously.
- According to 2024’s Gallup data, nearly half (49%) of American and Canadian workers report experiencing work-related stress daily. Notably, 59% of workers under 35 face work-related stress, 9% higher compared to workers 35 and older. The report also found that women tend to experience more stress at work than men, with 54% of female workers reporting stress compared to 45% of male colleagues.
- More than two in five (45%) reported they have to work more hours per week than they want to.
- A third (33%) are not working in their preferred location.
- Nearly 6 in 10 U.S. workers (59%) currently work all in person, 24% are hybrid, and 17% work fully remotely. However, only 38% of workers prefer to work all in person, compared to 34% who prefer a hybrid arrangement and 28% who prefer working remotely.
- Most workers said they could be just as productive (81%) and happier (79%) if they worked four days a week, whether in person, remotely, or a hybrid of both.
- Several factors cause workplace stress, but according to 69% of stressed American workers, the main offender is receiving assignments with unrealistic deadlines.
- According to a new study, 8 in 10 companies lost talent due to their RTO mandates. Despite that, nearly half (49%) still mandate staff to be in the office 4 to 5 days per week. Further, 7 in 10 plan to increase or maintain their return-to-office requirements in 2025.
Is Workplace Stress an Epidemic Or a Global Pandemic?
The U.S. labor market and employees are not alone in the stress landscape. In fact, U.S. workers are not even the worst off.
Gallup’s Global 2024 Workplace Report cites that 41% of employees report experiencing “a lot of stress.”
Stress levels, however, vary significantly depending on how organizations are run. According to the data, employees in companies with ineffective management practices are nearly 60% more likely to experience stress than in environments with effective management practices. Furthermore, employees under poor management report “a lot of stress” approximately 30% more frequently than the unemployed.
Women experience stress more often than men. 43% of female workers felt stressed most of the previous day, compared to 39% of male workers.
People working in the Middle East and North Africa are experiencing the highest levels of stress. 52% of respondents from that region reported feeling the effects of stress, a 7% increase compared to 2023. The United States and Canada follow closely, with 49% of respondents reporting work-related stress.
For Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, this figure is 48%.
East Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean also beat the average.
- As a region, 46% of East Asia experience workplace stress
- Latin America and the Caribbean come in just above the median at 44%
Managers (41%) are more likely to be stressed, angry, sad, and lonely than non-managers (40%). Interestingly, hybrid workers worldwide report higher stress levels (42%) compared to those working fully remotely or fully onsite (both at 39%).
Here’s an overview of workplace stress averages per region:
What Is Stress Doing to Workers?
In Deloitte’s Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, half of the respondents were looking for a new job, and 25% reported quitting a job due to the stress it caused.
54% report stress from work has negatively affected their home life on a weekly or daily basis.
- 35% said they’ve lost their temper at work
- 39% had to take unplanned time off.
- More than half reported that stress negatively affects their ability to sleep.
From an employer’s perspective, an especially alarming stress statistic is this: 46% of workers admitted that, due to stress, they’ve stopped caring or “checked out” at times. In addition, 25% of respondents experienced a decline in their work quality due to stress.
We know stress is bad for our health, our mental well-being, and our work. So why are we still so stressed? What is it about our workplace culture that makes it so stressful? And, realistically speaking, should we aim for absolutely zero work-related stress?
Is Work-Related Stress Always Bad?
One of the paradoxes of stress is that it’s not an absolute evil.
Medical science has proven that stress is bad for our physical and mental health. However, Kelly McGonigal’s famous 2013 TED talk argues that believing stress is bad for you is more dangerous than being stressed.
According to the Harvard study she cites, people who experienced a lot of stress in the prior year had a 43% increased risk of dying. However, that metric was only true for the people who also believed that stress is harmful to your health.
Working with set goals, deadlines, and expectations will inevitably lead workers to feel pressure to deliver results. And shouldn’t they?
Companies employ workers with the expectation that they will add value to the organization. The employee should, therefore, ideally feel some responsibility (read: stress) to perform, and from this responsibility there should come some form of meaning. Research also proves that people who experience a moderate level of stress response tend to have better health and well-being compared to those with very strong or very weak reactions to stress.
Stress is a survival mechanism that allows your body to enter a high-performing state. A healthy level of stress can bring forth the cognitive state where career growth happens and grandiose goals are achieved.
Stress, as the Yerkes-Dodson law suggests, can enhance performance up to a certain point. So there is an attainable Goldilocks zone where our stress levels are “just right” to achieve high performance. This desirable level of stress even has a name - Eustress.
We’ve established that zero stress is not the desired state, but neither is a toxic level of stress - or distress.
So let’s be clear. When we refer to workplace stress in this article, we’re talking about a high level of stress. This is medically referred to as chronic stress.
What Is Chronic Workplace Stress?
In a nutshell, stress is your body’s reaction to a perceived threat, problem, demand, or stimulus that requires you to take action. We often refer to this as the body’s fight or flight response. Chronic (toxic) stress happens when your brain and body’s stress response is activated too often or for too long at a time.
Stress is supposed to happen in short bursts. Here’s why:
When you’re in difficult or demanding circumstances, like chasing a deadline, your body generates a stress response. On a physiological level, it releases stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol to deal with these circumstances. Once the stressful event is over the hormones dissipate and the body returns to normal levels of operation.
Toxic stress usually develops when your body experiences multiple stress factors that are persistent and severe. For example, if your work consists of one deadline after the other interspersed with confrontational colleagues, demanding clients, and an irritable boss, stress would be your default state. The heightened cortisol and adrenaline levels caused by ongoing stress never dissipate and create an ongoing inflammatory response in the body. This in turn increases your risk of chronic illness, infections, heart disease, mental illness, and addictive disorders.
When stress is your default state, it becomes dangerous to your mental and physical wellbeing.
What Causes Chronic Workplace Stress?
- Environments where stressors like deadlines, conflict, and crisis management are everyday events.
- When the factors causing stress have no discernible end within the employee’s control.
- When addressing or resolving the cause of stress will not amount to any great result or rewarding achievement down the line.
- An environment where employees are harassed, belittled, or shamed when they need a break or feel overwhelmed.
What Does Chronic Workplace Stress Look Like?
Unfortunately, stress has become such an accepted part of our working life that we often don’t notice when it becomes chronic.
Chronic stress manifests in dangerous physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms such as:
- Headaches
- Chest pain and rapid heartbeat
- Frequent colds and infections
- Forgetfulness and disorganization
- Inability to focus
- Poor judgment
- Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side
- Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities
- Becoming easily agitated, frustrated, and moody
- Feeling overwhelmed
These are just some of the signs of stress, and a person suffering from chronic stress may not manifest all or any of these symptoms in a discernible way.
In a 2022 survey on general stress felt by Americans, 49% of respondents who reported that they felt high levels of stress also said their behavior has been negatively affected by it.
Behavioral Symptoms of Chronic Stress By Percentage
- The most common effect, reported by 21%, was increased tension in their bodies.
- 20% admitted to “snapping” or getting angry very quickly.
- 20% reported unexpected mood swings.
- 17% felt frustrated to the point of screaming or yelling.
- 57% of respondents claimed to feel paralyzed by stress.
The irony is that chronic stress, which we’ve established is often caused by work, in turn, affects our professional output. So ultimately, workers and companies are both picking up the tab for our highly stressful lifestyle and its ultimate manifestation - burnout.
Statistics That Show How Workplace Stress Affects Productivity
Depression and anxiety are estimated to cost the global economy US$1 trillion annually and could reach $16 trillion by 2030 from lost productivity.
According to the American Institute of Stress, the U.S. economy loses $300 billion annually due to job stress.
Employees lose over 5 work hours per week thinking about stressors. 1 million Americans miss work each day due to symptoms of workplace stress. Work-related stress costs the U.S. $190 billion in healthcare expenditures annually. Notably, besides physical absences, 17% of U.S. workers are “actively disengaged”. The productivity lost due to “checked out” workers costs the country approximately $1.9 trillion each year.
And, as we’ve established, this feeling of disengagement is often a direct result of workplace stress.
Furthermore, depression, a condition incited or exacerbated by work stress, is costing the U.S. economy over $210 billion per year. Once again the cost is tallied by absenteeism and disengagement. But these are not the only symptoms.
More Ways In Which Workplace Stress Affects Productivity
- A worker under chronic stress may second guess their decisions, despite being well equipped to make them.
- Fatigue caused by stress can make an otherwise thorough worker make or overlook mistakes, which take additional time to correct.
- Feelings of cynicism can lead to negative and unproductive behaviors, like office gossiping and squabbling.
- Stress can lead to employees feeling resentment towards their employer, managers, or colleagues, which harshly dampens their ability to collaborate.
Burnout and Depression Caused by Workplace Stress
Arguably the most detrimental effect stress can have on employees is burnout. A state of stress so prevalent in today’s culture, the World Health Organization (WHO) included it in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases as an occupational (workplace) phenomenon. It is not classified as a medical condition.
Burnout is a condition of exhaustion, listlessness, and inability to cope. It was first described by Dr. Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s as the consequence of severe stress.
Until the WHO recognized burnout, conflicting definitions made it difficult to diagnose. Now it is described as: “A syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”
According to the WHO, burnout is characterized by three dimensions:
- Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion.
- Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job.
- Reduced professional efficacy.
The difference between stress and burnout is this:
In a state of stress, you feel you have too much: Too much work, too many responsibilities, and too many deadlines. With burnout, the feeling you have is a lack of: Lack of motivation, lack of care for your work, and a lack of creativity.
Because it has similar manifestations, burnout is often misinterpreted and treated as depression. Although they are not the same thing, burnout can certainly lead to anxiety and depression.
What Does Burnout Look Like?
Burnout develops when you’ve been under chronic stress for so long that you’ve reached your limit and can no longer function normally.
As with stress, the effects of burnout are worse when it is ongoing. According to GoodRx Health, untreated burnout can lead to anxiety or depression. It also causes chronic mental and physical fatigue that prevents you from working for long periods.
Because of its extreme effect on health, burnout is a real threat to the career growth and financial stability of employees. It is also a major concern for employers.
Statistics on How Burnout Leads to Employee Turnover
A 2022 survey by Deloitte states that Gen Zs and millennials who changed organizations in the last two years cited burnout as one of the top three reasons for leaving their previous employer.
- 45% of millennial workers surveyed feel burned out due to the intensity of their workload.
- 46% of Gen Z workers agreed.
- 44% of Gen Z workers and 43% of millennials said they had recently left an organization due to burnout.
- 35% of Gen Z workers said they would leave their current job even without another job lined up.
Covid 19 Workplace Stress and Burnout Statistics
Burnout statistics saw a drastic flare-up as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. A survey conducted by Mental Health America (MHA) during the height of the pandemic found that:
- 75% of people have experienced burnout at work.
- 40% of workers reported that they’ve experienced burnout specifically during the pandemic
- 37% of the employed respondents said that, at the time, they were working longer hours than before the pandemic started.
What Are The Factors That Cause Workplace Stress?
The statistics above make a very clear case as to why employers want to prevent their workers from experiencing chronic stress or burnout. To understand what companies can do to relieve stress, we must first understand what exactly causes an employee to feel unhealthy levels of stress.
Statistics On What Causes Workplace Stress and Employee Burnout
- Research found that being overworked is the main cause of stress for 37% of U.S. workers.
- One-third said their top cause of stress is lacking work-life balance.
- 31% reported inadequate compensation as their main course of stress.
- Nearly one in three claimed job insecurity and the same proportion felt the lack of flexibility at work stressed them out.
Other factors that contribute to workplace stress are the physical work environment, which 28% of workers marked as their top concern, lack of benefits, bad management, and lack of resources.
These are just a few causes of workplace stress. In the U.S. and abroad, employees are also tormented daily by:
- Negative feedback
- Too much change in company processes or policies
- Poor management and toxic leadership
- Organizational culture (if they do not feel they agree or fit in)
- A loud, unpleasant, inadequate, uncomfortable or toxic work environment
- Lack of autonomy
- Monotonous work
- Unreasonable expectations and deadlines
- Micromanagement and over-supervision
- Harassment
- Discrimination
There are many steps companies can take to minimize and manage stress felt by their employees. An effective way employers can help, according to workers, is by letting them decide where and when they work.
Is Remote Work The Answer to Workplace Stress?
The rapid increase in remote work due to the pandemic has taught us a lot. A 2023 report by FlexJobs states that:
- Most (96%) employees said a remote or hybrid working arrangement would best support their mental health.
- 87% reported that commuting affects their stress levels to some degree. Specifically, nearly six in ten workers said commuting negatively impacts their stress levels enormously or significantly.
- 79% of respondents said working from home causes them less stress than going to the office. Around half (48%) found decreased stress to be the primary health benefit of remote work. Additionally, 36% cited reduced burnout, and 34% experienced diminished anxiety and depression as other health benefits associated with working remotely.
Statistics On How a Remote Work Policy Affects Workplace Stress
Employers often hesitate to use remote work because they fear it will negatively affect performance. 36% of managers who lead teams with remote workers are concerned about employee productivity and reduced focus, but recent statistics from USA Today disagree:
- Nearly 6 in 10 remote workers (59%) agreed remote work enabled them to have a better work-life balance.
- 54% felt they had a more comfortable workspace thanks to the ability to work remotely.
- Reduced stress or burnout was voted as the top benefit of remote work by 40% of respondents.
- Around one-third said working at home helped them improve their sleep (36%), reduce depression or anxiety (31%), and get less distracted than in the office (31%).
A recent Gallup study seems to say the same thing about remote work, with both managers and employees agreeing it improves work-life balance, lessens burnout at work, and enhances productivity. But is remote work a surefire way of beating workplace stress? The same studies also show that it’s not all sunshine and roses when working from anywhere.
Of USA Today’s research remote worker respondents, 34% said they felt isolated from their team at work. More than one-fifth (22%) found it hard to ‘unplug’ from work when working from home. 1 in 10 felt more depressed (11%) and burned out (9%).
FlexJobs also points out in its recent research that the real culprit of the “remote work hurts productivity” belief is the willpower to stop working at the end of the day. Per the data, 28% of remote workers don’t get out often enough, and the same proportion found themselves working overtime more often than they did when being onsite.
Managers can’t necessarily see remote workers working additional hours or signs that their team is under stress. It is easy to perceive their weekly output as “the expected norm.” This creates unhealthy pressure on remote workers to maintain a level of productivity they cannot attain without working extra hours— a situation that can easily lead to chronic stress and burnout.
Remote employees working for companies that also offer in-office work have an additional source of stress. Of respondents in this position, 37% are stressed about feeling like an outsider— not seen or heard by their co-workers.
Furthermore, proximity bias makes managers and leaders overlook their talented remote employees. A recent study found that two-thirds of remote worker supervisors admitted they believe remote employees are more replaceable than onsite workers, and 42% said they sometimes forget about remote workers when assigning tasks.
Workplace Stress of Remote Vs In-Office Jobs
Remote work has an undeniable benefit in:
- Removing or reducing the stress and cost of commuting to the workplace.
- Removing or reducing contact with overbearing managers.
- Allowing employees to adapt their working hours around the needs of their home life.
Although remote work aids with these and other significant stressors, it opens an entirely new can of worms.
Remote workers have cited that being at home all the time makes them feel like they’re constantly at work. Additionally, the added autonomy, lack of office camaraderie, and constant exposure to home issues are also tricky factors to juggle.
Statistics on Workplace Stress Experienced by Remote Workers
- According to the International Labor Office (ILO), 41% of remote workers who station themselves outside their homes feel stressed most of the time, whereas about 22% reported they are “always stressed.”
- By comparison, the same study found that only about 25% of office workers feel stressed most of the time, and between 8% and 9% are always stressed.
- Of remote workers based in their homes, about 31% feel stressed most of the time, and 13% are always stressed.
- For employees who occasionally work from a remote location, the stress rates are about 33% and 11%, respectively.
Addressing Sick Leave For Remote Workers to Prevent Stress
A factor of remote work that companies rarely address is sick leave. One can argue that taking sick leave from an office job is partly for recovery and partly a community consideration— not to bring contagions into the workplace.
If a remote worker has the flu, there is no risk of infecting coworkers. This begs the question, how sick do these workers have to be before taking sick leave is validated? With a lack of clear company policy on sick leave, studies show that remote employees often opt to work from their sickbed, which increases their stress levels.
Working despite mild illness (sickness presenteeism) has been linked to diminished performance and depression. Despite this, workers feel immense guilt over taking the time to recover from health problems. According to Greg Couser, an occupational medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic, this culture of sickbed work is dangerous:
“...People aren't going to get better, they're going to get sicker, they’re going to get more stressed out, and there’s going to be all sorts of consequences that we don’t even know about…although there may be a short-term gain in productivity, it could lead to a longer-term loss.”
Experts warn companies against a culture that encourages sickness presenteeism for remote workers. In the longer term, prioritizing recovery benefits everyone.
Addressing Workplace Stress
Chronic workplace stress is expensive, counterproductive, and undeniably harmful. Several employers have caught on to this and are taking steps to reduce workplace stress.
Naturally, their efforts are partly philanthropic and partly capitalistic. The ROI on employee wellness has been proven to be $1.50 for every dollar spent, not counting increased productivity.
In Deloitte’s survey of millennial and Gen Z workers, more than half admitted that workplace wellbeing and mental health have become more of a focus for their employers since the start of the pandemic. But 25% of the respondents do not believe that companies take stress or burnout seriously, or do enough to address it.
10 Ways Employers Can Reduce Workplace Stress
Reducing workplace stress to a desirable level greatly depends on the main stressors and challenges your company must face. However, we have put together this list of 10 steps any organization can take to avoid unnecessary workplace stress.
1. De-stigmatizing work-related stress
Openly recognize stress as a problem and acknowledge that, when employees feel overly stressed, they should take time off. By treating stress as a serious matter employees will feel their workplace is a psychologically safe environment, not one that is actively breaking down their mental health.
2. A safe working environment
Diligent health and safety protocols and protective gear (where appropriate) minimize the possibility of a workplace accident or other physical harm occurring to your workforce. Your team does not need the fear of getting hurt, trapped, or sick from simply doing their job hanging over them.
3. Proper training and supervision
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, most workers can be exposed to some work-related psychosocial hazards due to meeting expectations and deadlines, working or interacting with others, balancing work with life responsibilities, and coping with difficult work organization processes.
Employers often invoke the philosophy of “throw them in the deep end and they’ll learn how to swim''. This approach is nerve-wracking, especially for the employees starting their careers. Investing in employee training and workplace guidance assures the person that they are equipped to do their assigned job.
4. Team feedback
Regularly discuss issues and grievances that cause stress with employees, and then take steps to resolve them. Be aware and acknowledge how much pressure your employees are under.
Even if they are not coming forward about their stress, the markers for chronic stress may be clear in their behavior.
5. Create a stress management policy
Get input from your employees and have an SOP for dealing with stressful situations.
Asking for help is often frowned upon, and creates a situation where the colleague who is asked to help out can simply say no. As a result, a stressed worker may avoid speaking up and just take on more work. Create a culture where, if an employee is working long hours or under pressure, they can follow set procedures for redistributing their workload.
6. Encourage autonomy
Allow employees to have a say in their duties, working environment, and career plan. Situations that are beyond our control are often more stressful than what we choose for ourselves.
7. Alleviate workload
Regularly audit processes to eliminate redundancy and unnecessarily heavy workloads. Keeping workflows streamlined not only reduces employee stress, but it also increases productivity without adding hours. If the process is streamlined, but your employees are still working overtime, hire more staff.
8. Be reasonable about personal lives
Recognize that the demands of your employee’s homes will sometimes clash with the demands of their work and that, in these instances, their personal relationships should be their priority.
Also, remember that fun work is still work. Companies often mistake social events with colleagues for stress relievers. Although there is great team-building value in office parties and table tennis tournaments, these things still take your employees away from their families, their personal lives, and the time they need to de-stress. Arrange work fun during office hours, or make attendance optional.
9. Improve communication
According to Wrike’s report, 41% of workers at large companies (with 1000 employees or more), and 40% of employees at small businesses called a lack of communication a high source of stress.
The report goes on to say, “Since collaboration takes place across several platforms, such as email, instant messaging, meetings, and conference calls, there’s no place to consolidate feedback and ideas. Forgotten deadlines and lack of accountability lead to a spike in workplace stress.
Consolidating communication to one or fewer platforms can help to close collaboration gaps and reduce these stressors.
10. Build health into the workplace
Companies may consider health as something employees address in their personal capacity. But the physical and mental health of your workforce is a managerial concern.
By extension, companies should invest in making working hours healthy hours by incorporating wellbeing into the company culture. For example, by having:
- Paid sick leave with a clear policy on prioritizing recovery over work
- Free access to healthy snacks
- Daily in-office water drinking goals
- Walking meetings
- Friday half-days once a month to spend time with loved ones
- Healthcare benefits
- Ergonomic office furniture
Reducing Workplace Stress Requires a Toolkit, Not a Quick Fix
Besides what we’ve listed here, there are plenty more ways to manage and reduce job stress within your workplace.
The bad news is that no one-off solution exists. For example, while the productivity and cost benefits of employee health programs are clear, their effectiveness at specifically reducing workplace stress in isolation is not easily proven. After all, an employee wellness program in itself cannot counter stress caused by an unreasonable workload or toxic leadership. In these cases, the added expectation of participating in workplace wellness activities on top of an already stressful job can aggravate an employee’s feelings of stress.
While there is no magic cure for workplace stress, there are many tools that you can enforce in your goal of creating a healthy, optimized workforce. Your ideal toolkit would depend on your company’s unique stressors and structure. However, based on our research, we recommend starting with these four elements:
An Employee Recognition Platform
The need for affirmation is a quality shared by all humans, and positive feedback has proven to increase self-efficiency and performance.
Employees who feel recognized at work are 1.5 times more likely to feel motivated to do their best and 2.5 times more likely to be happy with their jobs, says new data. Happiness, in turn, reduces stress.
There are many solutions related to recognition on the market, but lucky for you we’ve already identified the top employee rewards programs to consider for your company.
Programs To Promote Health
Employee health programs encourage workers to develop and maintain healthy habits while also creating a culture of well-being. Corporate wellness efforts have been proven to decrease absenteeism, increase productivity, and reduce healthcare costs to the company.
Statistics on The Benefits of Employee Wellness Programs
- A 2018 study on introducing corporate wellness programs established that, compared to 2008, 56% of employees had fewer sick days because of its implementation.
- 88% of employees surveyed said they were more concerned about their health.
- 62% reported being more productive
- Of respondents who did not have access to employee wellness, 73% said they wanted their company to start a wellness program.
Consider these ways to introduce wellness into the workplace.
An Employee Assistance Program
An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides support during moments when your workers undergo personal challenges related to mental health. This can be substance abuse, family issues, and many others.
According to a new paper, 53% of American workers have access to an EAP as an employer-sponsored benefit. Larger companies are more likely to offer this program, with 84% of employers with 500+ employees providing one, compared to 66% of employers with 100-499 employees and 32% of small businesses with 1-99 employees.
Employers can also choose to offer access to child care and elder care providers and access to legal assistance.
According to the APA, one in five American adults will struggle with mental health issues during their lifetime. Despite this, many individuals view such conditions as personal flaws rather than medical issues. An EPA gives the mental health of employees the same status and importance as their physical health.
Statistics on Employee Assistance Programs Benefit Workers
- According to a study published in the International Journal of Health & Productivity, worker absenteeism dropped by 27% after the test companies introduced an EAP.
- The same study also discovered that the employees' engagement at work grew by 8%.
- Life satisfaction among the employees increased by 22%.
- SHRM reports a $3 to $10 return on investment for every $1 companies spend on an EAP.
This is convincing evidence. If you’re looking for the ideal EAP for your company, consider this list of the best employee assistance programs we’ve reviewed.
Assistance With Financial Wellbeing
Ultimately, employees put up with workplace stress because they need the income their job generates. But they are also crippled by the mounting student debt and other rising expenses of our time. The resulting financial stress often damages an employee’s engagement, productivity, and attendance.
Statistics on How Financial Stress Affects Workers
- 73% of Americans say their financial situation is their prominent source of stress.
- According to PwC’s annual Employee Financial Wellness Survey, employee financial stress is even higher than during the height of the pandemic, with six in 10 feeling stressed about their finances.
- 41% of workers who feel financial stress also say that this affects their productivity at work.
- 73% of employees whose productivity is significantly impacted by their financial worries also say that their finances have negatively affected their self-esteem.
Consequently, by investing in the financial wellbeing of your workforce, you relieve a major stressor and create a happier, more productive workforce.
Financial wellness support can take many forms and depends greatly on the income bracket and demographic your employees represent. What these programs have in common is the means to help your workers spend smarter, reduce debt, and save more of their earnings.
Take a look at these financial wellness programs we highly recommend.
Who Experiences The Most Workplace Stress?
The data says that, while a high income may alleviate a lot of financial woes, this doesn’t mean high-paid workers don’t suffer from financial stress.
In the above-mentioned PwC survey, even among workers whose annual income starts at $100,000, nearly half (47%) are still stressed about their finances.
Retail employees are more likely to run out of money between paychecks than those in manufacturing or tech: 39% vs. 22% and 24%, respectively.
Workplace Stress Statistics by Industry
According to a survey of 1,000 U.S. workers conducted by Vivian Health:
- Almost half of the respondents (48%) rated their job as stressful, regardless of industry.
- Furthermore, 50% are considering a career change or seeking new job opportunities.
- On average, participants rated their job-related stress at 6.23 out of 10, with healthcare workers experiencing the highest level of stress with an average score of 6.88.
International Worker Stress Statistics
While the United States is undeniably stressed out by work, we are not the only ones.
- A Microsoft survey of 20,000 participants from 11 countries revealed that nearly half of employees (50%) and a majority of managers (53%) reported experiencing burnout at work.
- A more recent study from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) of 11,000 desk-based and frontline workers in eight countries mirrored Microsoft’s findings. It found that nearly half (48%) are grappling with burnout.
- India, Australia, Canada, the U.S., and France are reported to have burnout rates higher than the global average.
- Women, LGBTQ+ community members, people with disabilities, and deskless workers have significantly higher burnout rates, up to 26% higher than the average. These subgroups also reported lower inclusion than those in majority groups or desk-based.
- In line with this, data from the State of Workplace Burnout 2024 report indicated that burnout is increasing for women and decreasing for men. Specifically, female burnout rates are up by 4% (42% vs. 38%), while male burnout rates are down by 3% (30% vs. 33%).
- Additionally, there is a significant disparity between managers’ perceptions and workers’ regarding employee well-being. While over 2 in 3 managers (68%) believe their employees' well-being has remained the same or improved over the past 12 months, 45% of employees report that their well-being has declined during the same period.
- Burnout is directly linked to increased loneliness, with individuals suffering from burnout being twice as likely to experience loneliness compared to those who are not in burnout.
- Employees working less than 40 hours show much lower psychosocial risks and burnout rates than those working 40 or more hours. Notably, while 42% of employees working 40+ hours experience burnout, merely 9% of those on a reduced-hour full-time model (such as a 32-hour workweek) report experiencing burnout.
Researchers also observed burnout rates were lowest for hybrid workers, at 8%, compared to 10% for remote workers and 20% for office-based employees.
The Bottom Line: Companies need to care about workplace stress
It is possible that the prevalence of chronic stress has made employers and employees desensitized to its presence in the workplace. But both parties are suffering if it is not addressed.
According to the American Institute of Stress. Workplace stress is expensive.
The American industry now estimates losses of over $300 billion annually due to workplace stress and the resulting accidents, absenteeism, employee turnover, loss of productivity, direct medical and insurance costs, workers' compensation awards, and FELA judgments.
While companies pay with diminished profits, employees pay with their quality of life. Researchers revealed that heavy stress decreases life expectancy by 2.8 years for men and approximately 2.3 years for women of the same age—an unreasonable price tag by anyone’s standards.
