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More than one in four Swiss employees under the spell of stress – report

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More than one in four Swiss employees under the spell of stress – report
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Approximately one per cent of potential GDP is lost due to stress, state the results of the Job Stress Index 2018, a study by the University of Bern and Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

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The broad survey, now in its fourth year, found that stress levels, linked to poor health and working conditions, has increased since 2015. 

27.1 per cent of Swiss workers suffer from stress, "which means they have more constraints than resources in their workplace". That number has risen from 22 per cent in 2015.  

Approximately 30 per cent of people feel "emotionally burn out" in their jobs. Young people tend to be the worst affected. 

Health-related productivity losses decrease with age. "According to the indications of older people (aged 40 to 65), they enjoy more favorable working conditions, have a positive state of mind at work and suffer less from emotional exhaustion," say the authors of the study. Thus age is one of the key factors in the Job Stress Index. 

"A higher level of training tends to reduce constraints and increase resources," adds the study. Gender was not found to have had a huge impact on the results. 

Stress reduces productivity and has a serious economic impact, argues the study. A more balanced working relationship could represent a boost to the Swiss economy of 6.5 billion Swiss francs (€5.68 billion), approximately 1 percentage point of GDP. 

The number of sick days taken by Swiss people because of stress and other mental health issues has shot up by 35 percent in the last five years, according to another study. 

READ MORE: Switzerland sees 'alarming' rise in stress-related time off work

 

 

 

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