A third (33 percent) of UK workers cite office politics when asked to consider why unhappiness in the workplace arises.
The research revealed that such negative feeling is having a significant impact on people’s working lives with nearly a third (29 percent) of UK workers spending every Sunday dreading the coming working week. A third (33 percent) of workers described their workplace as unhappy.
A surprising 28 percent of workers admit that they fear going into work so much that they have called in sick. An additional third (36 percent) would now consider leaving their employer due to such severe anxiety and more worryingly, one in ten (9 percent) have already taken that step due to such overwhelming feelings of unhappiness.
“A good office dynamic is crucial for happy and productive workplaces. The prevalence of office politics as a cause of such severe stress is an indication that many organisations are struggling to manage their office culture. It is also worrying that so many workers spend their weekends and holidays full of anxiety and dread about their return to work on Monday morning because of their fellow team members,” Alex Fleming, managing director at Adeco.
Up there with office politics, over half (57 percent) of workers name a heavy workload as the cause of stress and anxiety, whilst 33 percent cite a lack of managerial support. The research also revealed that even whilst away from work during the weekend or on holiday, over half (56 percent) of UK workers find it difficult to switch off from their day-to-day working life. When asked how they feel ahead of a new working week, over four in ten (44 percent) workers said they felt depressed, anxious or stressed, compared to under a quarter (23 percent) who feel prepared.
“Overall, getting the blues is common but it is unacceptable for this to begin to affect quality of life and that co-workers feature amongst the causes of this feeling. Make sure you talk to your employer to alert them to any potential tensions in the office and discuss the things you could work on together to change about your workplace and working arrangements to ease those feelings of anxiety. Simple steps such as regular catch ups with your line manager can go a long way in improving your view of your workplace,” Fleming concluded.
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.
