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Next edition: 14 December 2006
Stress
Stress is blamed for a multitude of sins, from low productivity to absenteeism. But a new poll suggests that domestic life is actually more stressful for most people than anything encountered in the office – oh dear.
Clearly excessive workloads, long hours and horrible commuting are common triggers for high stress levels among lawyers, and stress is often the most pressing concern at work.
However, a poll for legal compliance consultancy Croner, has suggested that as far as two-thirds of British workers are concerned, everyday domestic life is more stressful than anything they experience at work.
The employees polled were asked to rank ‘stress triggers’ in both their work and personal lives. Financial worries came top (voted by 27%), followed by relationship problems (15%) and then achieving a work/life balance (12%), all of which are to blame for the most stress.
Workplace stress factors did appear on the list, including workload, long hours, pay, and a long commute. However these were only considered the most stressful by a combined minority of 25%.
Croner's Gillian Dowling, said: "Although workplace factors feature lower down our stress trigger league, stress is still a big issue for employers who must treat it as they would any other workplace health hazard."
In another recent survey on stress at work, online learning provider SkillSoft found that almost 70% of managers claimed to wake up in the night due to feelings of stress and that more than half of those surveyed "could never imagine a stage in their life when they were completely stress-free". So lawyers are far from alone.
As well as workload, half the respondents blamed their problems on tight deadlines, while others mentioned feeling undervalued (38.9%) and having to take on other people’s work (34.1%). When asked directly about their colleagues, 56.1% said that seeing other people not pulling their weight was a major irritation while "bosses changing their minds about what they want you to do" drove 37.3% to despair.