Stress levels rising among business professionals: Survey

Two-thirds of employees cite work as biggest stressor

Stress levels amongst Canadian business professionals are on the rise, according to a recent survey. Almost one-half (48 per cent) of employees say their stress levels have risen over the past year, found the survey of 252 Canadian business professionals.

Work (63 per cent), personal finances (50 per cent) and customers (35 per cent) are the main contributing factors for the increased stress levels of stress, found the survey by Regus, a provider of flexible workplaces.

Small business workers were more likely to be stressed by customers (38 per cent) than large business workers (25 per cent), but were less vexed by colleagues (15 per cent) than their counterparts in larger firms (38 per cent).

A number of national factors such as continuing instability in the world economy are thought to have fuelled this growing pressure and respondents confirm that most stress triggers are of a professional rather than personal nature, said Regus.

Almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of survey respondents identify flexible working as a way of cutting stress.

“Without a doubt stressed-out workers are unhappy and unhealthy workers too, so businesses that want to help their staff lead more rewarding lives cannot fail to analyze and tackle levels of stress within their organization,” said Wes Lenci, vice-president of Regus Canada.

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