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A LARGE PROPORTION of Ireland’s corporate employees suffer from concerning levels of stress, anxiety and depression, a new study has found.
VHI has today published the first in a series of in-depth research reports into the health of Ireland’s corporate employees, which focuses on mental health in the workplace.
A total of 78% of those surveyed believe mental health issues are of increasing concern, while 67% say they need to take more care of their mental health.
The report found that more than one in five corporate employees feel extremely or very stressed. Of those employees under the age of 34, one-quarter of those surveyed said they find life extremely or very stressful.
Of all corporate employees surveyed, 41% think that the amount of stress in their lives now is more than five years ago.
33% said that the stress in their jobs would cause them to consider moving jobs.
One in five have missed work in the past year due to stress, anxiety or depression. The report also found that women, employees in the technology sector and those under 34 are most likely to worry about mental health and diet.
Half of those surveyed feel they must disguise the stress they feel at work to maintain their career prospects.
“There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting that workplace stress is increasing. This research is valuable in quantifying how significant this issue is and who is suffering most from stress and anxiety,” Professor Brendan Kelly of Trinity College Dublin, who is a member of VHI’s expert group, said.
“The level of mental health issues identified is concerning and with many respondents stating they believe it will impact their health in the future, it is clearly a growing problem,” he said.
Dealing with workplace stress
The VHI expert group has made a series of recommendations in response to the findings.
The group presented five options to those taking part in the survey, including a mindfulness course, digital support, counselling, and workplace discussions about mental health.
Mindfulness was the most popular option with 67% having a willingness to take a course on the topic.
Digital support came in second place, while the least popular option being to discuss mental health issues with an employer.
The VHI survey focused on those up to 45 years working in the corporate sector and included 392 employees from across all sectors who work in businesses of over 100 employees. The survey was conducted online by B&A.
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corporate workers? I am sure all workers worry about their mental health, if your on less than 10 euro an hour with 0-hour contract or cleaning someones toilet trying to figure out how this will cover the bills, your as likely to be stressed about your mental health.
@Dáithí: the survey was on corporate workers only. I’m sure they’ll get around to other jobs
@rory conway: hardly a need to, stress and mental health worries are not linked to any particular job description.
@Dáithí: You’re obviously unfamiliar with the fact that dentists have the highest rate of suicide of any profession. It’s a weird one, but outliers like that can give great clues to causes of mental health issues which can help all of society.
@Dáithí: I’m sure those percentages hold up in all areas of the work force
I think the stress is partly to do with how dehumanising working for a corporation.
You are expected to work relentlessly, be on constant call, yet the second your employer can save a few quid, you’ll be sacked – regardless of performance.
Apple employees know this – they are well aware that their employment is dependent on the government allowing the continuing tax swindle.
@mursim: I’m on my third multinational corporation and I have literally never experienced this. I’ve worked for a US, a German and a British multinational and I have never seen this culture. I have also worked on-site with multinationals in several other countries in my time. There can be a blame culture in certain companies, which is toxic and should be avoided, but it’s not the norm.
I am never asked to work ‘relentlessly’ (presumably you mean outside of contracted hours), everyone knows when they need to pitch in, and typically I’m approached by management to take personal time when it quietens down. Sure I work a few weekends per year, and do some late evenings, but that doesn’t go unrecognised.
It’s rare for any company to recognise and ignore the signs of burn out, and most companies will manage their talent to avoid it. Sure it’s for ulterior motives, but they do watch it, and it’s a line management failure if it’s not spotted, not a corporate one. Poor managers sweat their teams instead of standing up to their own management, and they’re typically identified quickly when their team has absenteeism or all leave.
Don’t get me wrong. I know I’m a number, and I know I’m replaceable, but it would be arrogant to think otherwise. Work is a business transaction, if one party no longer needs the other there are mechanisms to leave the arrangement for both parties. If you’re work relationship is unbalanced – you need them more than they need you – it’s time to evaluate your skills and plan where you want to be in 1, 3 and 5 years.
The days of an employer keeping you for 40 years and giving you a gold watch and a defined benefit pension are over, folks need to take control of their careers. If you don’t know what to do, you need a career and/or life coach. If your employer doesn’t provide coaching/mentoring, it’s time to seek a new employer, getting the help outside if necessary.
@Rónán O’Suilleabháin:
‘folks need to take control of their careers’
Tell that to the 50 year that has been made redundant as their job is outsourced to Poland.
Being a replaceable cog is fine in your 20s and 30s as you still have options.
Wait until you hit your 40s and you’ll realise that corporations are toxic.
@mursim: I find US companies way better to work for than Irish one’s. An Irish company will bring in Polish workers to undermine pay and conditions. Must corporations and straight up the way you are treated. And yes you are expected to work but that’s what you are paid for.
@mursim: I refer you to my earlier comment. Ask yourself are your skills still relevant in the local marketplace, and have a 1, 3, 5 year plan.
I absolutely fear what being made redundant at 50 would look like, which is why I’ve changed direction on a number of occasions to keep accumulating knowledge and building a breadth of experience. What I’m doing in 5 years will not be what I’m doing now, and in 10 years there’ll be even less in common.
Products, services, assembly lines, manufacturing methods, service methods, teams, companies, divisions, groups, professions all have evolution and lifecycles. It’s important to not be the person turning off the lights, and it’s important to put your hand up to work on the latest stuff.
Someone on your team X is asking about team Y, and what skills they would need to join team Y. Don’t be left on team X when it closes, team Y is winding down, and that person has moved on team Z, and everyone is moaning that they get all the good opportunities, and ‘it’s not what you know it’s who you know’ etc.
If you’re happy to stand still, the machine will move on without you. It’s not personal, it’s not toxic – it’s life, and it’s the evolution of the economy around you. Staying relevant is your responsibility too.
@Rónán O’Suilleabháin: You should not have to spend your whole life doing courses on top of work. Workers outnumber employers and if this really is a democracy we should use that power.
@SC: What? So you should train at 20, then do the same thing for 40 years, and beat up employers if they don’t keep you on? How does the employer pay for that when economies all over the world automate and beat them at their own game?
Also, who said anything about courses? I’ve spent a grand total of about 7 days in the classroom since I left college 14 years ago, and 3 days of that were inductions. You don’t have to get a degree at night to incrementally build your skills, and a good employer will train you if you go looking for opportunities to do more.
That said, doing courses is an excellent way to ensure you stay relevant. The social contract you have with our government does not extend to employers, they are under no obligation to give you a living if you haven’t stayed relevant. Luckily, if you do fall through the net, while it means a bad drop in standard of living, the social contract does extend to providing said courses for you to retrain, should you wish to engage.
@SC: Employers are not a charity, they don’t owe you a living. An employer (whether an individual or a corporation) risks their money to set up a business, employees sell their skills and experience to the employer in return for a wage. Its a mutually beneficial deal. What do you want? the government to force an employer to give you a wage you’re skills don’t justify, provide you with a guaranteed job for their even if your skills don’t benefit the employer in any way. If you insist on that then there will be no employers and no jobs.
@Rónán O’Suilleabháin: just because you had an ok experience with US multinationals that does not mean all do. i worked for 18 yrs with American multinationals. Constantly Underpaid and overworked for most. Every trick in the book to reduce bonuses etc. Joined a German co 2 years ago and its the complete opposite. Have regretted my stupid loyalty and sense of owing those US companies now
@Damon16: it is more beneficial for the employer in most cases, they pay workers far less than they bring in and treat them badly so they feel stupid and think they’re not worth more. Employers are subject to laws we can change if we want to, if this is a democracy. I’m in a good profession so I don’t have a lot of those problems anymore, but not everyone can be a niche professional and that doesn’t mean they deserve to be treated like c r a p.
@Rónán O’Suilleabháin: It is very toxic. Neoliberal capitalism is working for a very select minority and what you’re doing here is defending the status quo and shifting “responsibility” i.e. blame onto the individual rather than the system, while also distracting from a very real problem of mental health issues, which again points to the fact that social Darwinist capitalism is highly toxic.
Working your arse off in a job you hate to pay off a house that you never get to spend time in and childcare costs for children that you never get to spend time with. It’s enough to make anyone anxious.
If you chose to have a mortgage and if you chose to have children
@Mark Johnson: is the answer to be homeless Billy no mates then ?
@Gaz Barclay Dunnes: Not having a mortgage makes you homeless and not having children means you have no friends?
@Gaz Barclay Dunnes: wtf?
@Mark Johnson: I’d hazard a guess Mark that you’re still living at home with your parents……..;)
@Mark Johnson: Cop on! What do you suggest? people live in a tent? and only the wealthy are allowed to procreate??? get a grip
Human Resources claim they are there to help employees like you but realy they are there to protect the company from employees
@Michael McLoughlin: HR are trained to bully, intimidate and manipulate employees but to keep it within the law.
@Michael McLoughlin: Time and time again I have heard people refer to HR Human Resources as ‘Human Remains’ – where you end up once you’ve checked out your soul and allow colleagues to bully each other, and then have a lovely little ‘neutral’ bs meetings to sort things out..save the company a few quid and warn off employees about taking legal action.Whilst people take their own life on the weekend out side of the 9-5. Grim.
@SC: This is not true for the most part. HR take action on company decisions – so you can blame HR for the decision made by the management of the company and still cozy up to the bosses for a cup of coffee. People need to open their eyes – HR don’t act alone. Easy to blame them. And often they’re the ones fighting with seniors and finance to get employees more benefits
@Clare: HR tread a thin line between dealing with bullying and accusing someone without evidence. It’s impossible to act without evidence and evidence is difficult to come by. Line managers are often witnesses to bullying and do nothing… yet HR expected to swoop in and deal with it.
Because offices are the most unnatural environment you can be in, some without much natural light, no exercise, stuffy air, moany colleagues and demanding deadlines. Stress?…who knew?….
Best off to take the model of the Irish Civil service, the least stressed of all Office based workers…
@Dotty Dunleary: Pretty clueless statement. How many violent criminals do you have to deal with daily? I know a person in DSP that does that everyday in their office. You think staff don’t get stressed if payments don’t go out and it is in the newspapers?
@Kal Ipers: Yea take the most extreme example when we all know that in government departments most of the staff are under-worked, duplicated, get flex-time, plenty of holidays and sick leave, training days, no pressure to go above and beyond their duties, no pressure to do something outside a narrow job spec..
@Dotty Dunleary: How do you actually know this? Can you give us examples? There has been a hiring freeze for a long time with many covering 2 jobs. I have worked in both private and state organisations. There isn’t much difference when it comes effort or stress. It is a limp clique to say civil servants are lazy and there is too many.
@Dotty Dunleary: ___ You seem to be a particularly clueless individual in this regard.
@Dotty Dunleary: God I hate sweeping generalisms like this. It smacks of the “man in the pub told me” laziness. Civil servants are office workers like anyone else who have dealt with and are dealing with the inclusion of the corporate culture found in private sector companies. Burn out and work related stress are common in my area thanks to rising workloads, reporting requirements, increased competition etc.
@Kal Ipers: I worked for a while in the PS. It was during the PS recruitment embargo so I wasn’t a PS worker but instead hired on contract by an outside agency. My PS colleagues earnt double what I did, they had double the annual leave and sick days galore. Let me tell you, there was very little work being done there. Lots of chatting, nipping out on personal errands, tea breaks every hour, turning up late for work, leaving early, lots of sick days being taken. It was shock. It truly is different planet. I left after a few months.
@Damon16: Odd details there suggesting you didn’t work in the PS. They have flexi-time so hard to turn up late and leave early. It is all recorded when they start and finish. Sick days are strictly monitored and require doctors notes. They also don’t hire contract workers in the manner you are saying so altogether I don’t believe you as there maybe some local variation it certainly won’t be on everything you said.
@Damon16: exactly what i saw over 8 yrs working for 2 diff state agencies on contract for American multinationals. They used to laugh at our salaries and working terms.
@Kal Ipers: pure bull. As you say where is your evidence of that ? How would they know, for most people there is no clock in or out, manually recorded (doctored). WW3 then when process improvements try to happen. All get performance bonuses etc. No formal targets or reviews.
@Kal Ipers: I was hired by a shell company set up by the institution in question in order to circumvent the hiring embargo. My salary was paid for by external funding provided by an NGO. There was absolutely no signing in or out or monitoring of any kind. Yes of course doctors certs were required for sick pay, however absences were very very frequent. Several wks of annual leave were taken by many PS works – this doesn’t happen in the private sector. The job I worked in required frequent interaction with various outside agencies and companies in the healthcare/pharmaceutical/NGO sector – they were constantly complaining how difficult it was to get issues dealt with promptly and properly by the Irish authorities and were constantly threatening to withdraw funding/collaboration. The PS and workers there were completely unfazed by this. They were going to get paid either way. After tat experience I would be very wary of handing control of anything over to the PS.
@Damon16: They have had an electronic signing is system for all PS staff for over 5 years. It is run by a private company so no fiddling can go on. Everything you said is very odd and I suspect you never understood who you were working for. No NGO is hiring staff to do PS workers jobs.
If you like what your doing then it’s a lot easier , but most don’t and the relentless Sisyphus like grind and the hoax of a utopian retirement is sinking in , sitting at a desk for 70% of your life is only going to drive you mad , employers seem to prescribe everything except less hours and time off
@Gaz Barclay Dunnes: Do you think tradesmen are way happier with all their physical injuries? Most have bad knees, back and heart issues. Most plasterers will die of heart attacks due to the strain of having raised arms with weight.
Lots of offices have flexi-time and cater very well for parents.
@Kal Ipers: Most plasterers will die of heat attacks due to the strain of having raised arms with weight…Huh? Have you link to that statistic??
The morale and health of our human assets at [ Insert Gulag sweatshop] are an ongoing priority and we continually evaluate and update our procedures to address their concerns. The pressure will be increased until morale improves.
@Jointheclubtoo: Yeah sure sitting at a desk, clacking at a computer while slurping machine coffee is EXACTLY like being a Soviet prisoner in a Gulag………. except for the back breaking work, the starvation, disease, arctic temps, frostbite and the imminent risk of being shot on the spot for some minor indiscretion – just minor details i guess.
I suppose its good that history and fate panned out in such a way that we’re pampered to such an extent that someone could make such a silly equivalence without being embarrassed and that some foolish people would actually like the comment. I suggest you read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “the gulag archipelago” might help you appreciate your lives a bit more
I have worked outdoor physical labor jobs abroad, often starting at 4am with little regulations on breaks or finish times – this was physically and mentally tough & unhealthy, however working in an office is a different story.
In an office you are in an artificial environment and you mentally feel less human and more robotic, or like a piece of machinery. Often there is an undercurrent of social tension, dealing with abusive customers and sometimes staff – Yes all workers are subject to mental health issues but anything corporate is a recipie for depression/mental health decline.
It’s SO important to take care of your wellbeing and mind in these environments.
Not at all the answer is 1dont work 2sign on 3 have a shot of kids 4 get free house and free medical 5 laugh at your neighbour with hes big mortgage 6 get a bag of can and party the night away keeping neighbours awake 7 laugh at neighbour as he goes to work in the morning
Follow these simple rules to eternal happiness and a stress free life
Regards Pl ster
@Pl Ster: Don’t forget the free cars, phones and holidays in Benidorm, all free on the social!
The price you pay for working with a multinational….long hours, good pay but you are just a number and easily disposed off.
@BananaRepublic1922: of
This is very valid and I see it in my work every day with clients. The shame of being seen as someone who is anxious or stressed is worse than the stress of the job. We have more of an awareness of mental health in general but in the workplace, we are still in the dark ages with many companies paying lip service to real concerns. Some corporates forget that they employ human beings, not robots, the irony is that quantity of hours does not pay off, a happy workforce that is genuinely acknowledged is a productive one.
Country was much better off when we are ating a proper dinner in the middle of the day and doing proper work. These places with free beds of couscus and morrocan fishcakes turning them into corporate dystopias.
There needs to be roar down the office- stop fluting around with that context aware, AI driven containerized plugin that drives market share and give us a hand with some real work
- Snaggin turnips, stacking bales
- Mixing cement with a shovel with a bad handle, pulling thistles out of the barley field.
- Torching on felt while standing on a stack of rotten pallets and trying to avoid the powerline
- Gutting turkeys
Hooars dont know how to look after mind nor body nor house.. They have outsourced so much that even the toilet paper comes premoist. Too much choice, give them about 6 weeks of bacon and cabbage or maybe a greasy fry for a change.
Too much computerization, get out and work on real practical things. Fooooooak off with your interactive whiteboards and slack channels, come on out here and unwind that roll of barbed wire into the thorny hedge
I’d bet most of the stress is linked to office politics….
Enda Kenny might know the insight about this subject didn’t he comment as Davos ah sure they all went mad (People of Ireland during the Celtic Tiger)
Compare civil servants hospitalisation in Mental Hospitas to the Corporate world. It’s one thing to take a few sick days with depression but a more accurate figure would be people who need incare treatment.
Poor ould corporate workers.
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