ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Around half of workers across Europe (51 per cent) perceive that work-related stress is common in their workplace, according to a pan-European opinion poll conducted on behalf of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

Female workers are more likely than male workers to say that work-related stress is common (54 per cent versus 49 per cent), as are workers aged 18-54 (53 per cent) compared with workers aged 55+ (44 per cent).

EU-OSHA director Christa Sedlatschek explained: "Forty-one per cent of workers across Europe say that work-related stress is not handled well in their workplace, with 15 per cent telling us it is handled not at all well. We are very much focused on tackling psychosocial risks, such as stress, in the workplace.

"Next year we will launch our Healthy Workplaces Campaign on Managing Stress. The message to be conveyed across European companies of different sizes and sectors is that psychosocial risks can be dealt with in the same logical and systematic way as other health and safety issues."

The most common cause of work-related stress across Europe is perceived to be job insecurity or job reorganisation (72 per cent) followed by hours worked or workload (66 per cent).

Unacceptable behaviour such as bullying or harassment are perceived as a common cause of work-related stress by six in 10 workers (59 per cent). Fewer workers perceive a lack of support from colleagues or superiors (57 per cent), a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities (52 per cent) or limited opportunity to manage work patterns (46 per cent) as common causes of work-related stress.