Study reveals 2020 as the most stressful year for global workforce

KARACHI: The ongoing year (2020) has been the most stressful year in history for the global workforce and people want robots to help, according to a new study by Oracle and Workplace Intelligence, an HR research and advisory firm.

The study of more than 12,000 employees, managers, HR leaders, and C-level executives across 11 countries found that the Covid-19 pandemic has increased workplace stress, anxiety, and burnout for people all around the world, and they prefer robots instead of other people to help.

Covid-19 has negatively impacted the mental health of the global workforce and people across the world are battling increased levels of anxiety and depression at work.

According to Study some 70 percent of people have had more stress and anxiety at work this year than any other previous year. This increased stress and anxiety has negatively impacted the mental health of 78 percent of the global workforce, causing more stress (38 percent), a lack of work-life balance (35 percent), burnout (25 percent), depression from no socialisation (25 percent), and loneliness (14 percent).

The global pandemic has exacerbated workplace mental health issues and the impact is not confined to professional lives – people are feeling the effects at home as well. 85 percent of people say mental health issues at work (i.e. stress, anxiety, and depression) affect their home life.

The most common repercussions were sleep deprivation (40 percent), poor physical health (35 percent), reduced happiness at home (33 percent), suffering family relationships (30 percent), and isolation from friends (28 percent).

The study said that as boundaries have increasingly blurred between personal and professional worlds with people working remotely, 35 percent of people are working 40+ more hours each month and 25 percent of people have been burned out from overwork.

The new pressures presented by the global pandemic have been layered on top of everyday workplace stressors, including pressure to meet performance standards (42 percent), handling routine and tedious tasks (41 percent), and juggling unmanageable workloads (41 percent).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020