Work-related stress deemed a ‘growing national crisis’ amid call for action

Excessive workloads are driving stress to unprecedented levels

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Unions are demanding urgent intervention to address what they describe as a national work-related stress crisis, following new research highlighting widespread concerns among employees. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) revealed its study uncovered significant anxieties regarding the pressure workers are currently enduring.

The union body asserted that employers are consistently failing to adequately assess or mitigate the inherent risks of stress faced by their workforce. A comprehensive survey of 2,700 union safety representatives underscored this issue, with four out of five reporting stress as a primary concern within their workplaces.

Many respondents said excessive workloads are driving stress to unprecedented levels.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “These findings expose a growing national crisis. Stress is now entrenched as the biggest health and safety issue facing working people, and the situation is getting worse.

“No worker should find themselves lying awake at night from stress, but too many employers are ignoring the law, failing to assess stress risks, and piling impossible workloads onto staff.

“Workers are burning out, and they are paying with their health.

“Employers and managers need to do more to identify and reduce risks and to provide support to employees struggling to cope.”

The TUC called for the law requiring employers to assess and prevent work-related stress to be enforced and for excessive workloads to be cut.