Survey: 77% of employees say stress impacts their performance at work

Findings from a poll of 2057 employees.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, December 4, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- HappierMe, a leading online platform for mental health and well-being, has released the results of its latest survey on the impact of stress on workplace performance. The survey, which was conducted in November 2024, asked 2057 professionals across the globe to rate the impact of stress on their performance at work. 42% of the respondents reported stress had a 'significant' impact on their work performance, 35% reported a 'moderate' impact, 17% reported a 'slight' impact, and only 6% said stress had no impact on their performance.

How Stress Impacts Work Performance

1. You feel busy but accomplish little: You’re working nonstop, yet at the end of the day, there’s little to show for it. Stress slows your pace and clouds your focus.
2. Mistakes happen more often: Under stress, your brain struggles to process details, leading to errors that would otherwise be avoidable.
3. Concentration is affected: Even simple tasks feel monumental when your focus is scattered. Stress transforms routine work into overwhelming challenges.
4. Poor decision-making: Snapping under pressure can lead to impulsive decisions that don’t serve your goals.
5. Teamwork takes a hit: Stress can push your patience to its limit, causing friction and conflict with colleagues.
6. You’re physically present but mentally checked out: Stress manifests in absenteeism and presenteeism, where you either avoid work or show up without contributing meaningfully.

How Stress Strains Relationships

1. Irritability and impatience increase: The smallest issues can spark frustration.
2. Communication breaks down: Misunderstandings and ineffective conversations become more common.
3. Empathy fades: It’s harder to connect with others when you’re focused on your own stress.
4. Conflicts escalate: Stress magnifies minor disagreements, leading to unnecessary arguments.
5. Social withdrawal: Instead of seeking support, stress often leads to isolation.

The impact on organisations

It is difficult to quantify the impact on productivity due to chronic stress, but a well known Gallup poll found that 67% of people in organisations were not engaged and this resulted in a productivity loss of $1.9 trillion. Stress may well be a contributing factor.

Fighting Stress
We can address stress in 4 ways:

1. Deal with the acute event: The HappierMe app offers breathing exercises, audio meditations, journaling, tapping, and nature mediations to help you calm your mind when you feel stressed. Find one that works for you and practice it regularly. You can call on this when you are feeling stressed.

2. Change how you react: Our mind reacts automatically to its challenges, and it is this reaction that creates the feeling of stress. We assume its the event that is causing our stress, but in fact its our reaction that creates the stress. Often, we cannot change the events around us, but we can change the way we react to them. To do that, we need to develop our self-awareness and emotional intelligence and understand where our reactions come from. The more we learn, the more we can be in charge of our own reactions and learn to deal with challenges with calm.

3. Lifestyle changes: These are well known and include regular exercise, sleeping 8 hours at night, eating a balanced diet, and time management.

4. EQ + Relationships: Managers who are emotionally intelligent can be better leaders and can understand and support staff better. Staff who are emotionally intelligent can have have healthier relationships with each other, with much less conflict. This can create a less stressful work environment for everyone.

About HappierMe: HappierMe is a personal development app that empowers users to feel better, develop their self-awareness and emotional intelligence, and apply that to avoid and overcome stress. It addresses the root cause, rather than just the symptoms. To find out more download and explore the HappierMe app for free.

Manoj Krishna
HappierMe
+44 7941 953096
email us here
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The key to overcoming stress