These facts are in flux at all times. Many don't factor in a post-
9/11 world and the periodic booms and busts that come and go
with increasing regularity. It may be fairly assumed that stress
factors are getting worse rather than better in the modern
workplace.
- The cost of work time lost to stress in Canada is $12
billion
- From 1992 to 1998, the proportion of Canadian women
who felt "severe stress" rose 23%, while for men it
climbed 25%
- Stress as a reason for absence has increased 316
percent since 1995
- A 2003 survey on work-life conflict, which surveyed more
than 31,000 workers, found more than half felt stressed,
one-third felt burned out or depressed, one-quarter
thought of quitting their jobs at least once a week or
more, and one in 10 reported high absenteeism due to
emotional, physical or mental fatigue. The direct cost of
absenteeism totals $4.5 billion each year.
- Job stress is estimated to cost American Industry $300
billion a year, more than the net profits of all the Fortune
500 companies combined and ten times the costs for all
strikes
- 40% of job turnover is due to job stress
- 60% to 80% of on-the-job accidents are stress-related
- 75% to 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for
stress-related complaints or conditions
- Health care expenditures are nearly 50% greater for
workers who report high stress levels
The American
Institute of Stress
- Stress has overtaken traditional workplace illnesses and
injuries to become the biggest cause of sickness
absence in Britain. Stress, and common stress-related
complaints such as depression and anxiety, accounted
for 36% of days lost through workplace injury and ill-
health in 2004/05.
Health and Safety Executive,
Quoted in the Financial Times,
January 18, 2004
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