Exclusive insights: 22M workdays lost to stress, CharlieHR reports
HR experts warn that the UK is in the midst of an employee wellbeing crisis, with more than 2 million workers reporting that they hate their current job.
Research commissioned by CharlieHR, the all-in-one HR platform for small businesses, reported the findings.
The news comes ahead of National Work Life Week (Oct 5th – 9th), an annual campaign that encourages UK employers and employees to talk openly about workplace wellbeing, work-life balance, and flexible working cultures.
CEO and founder Ben Gateley said: “We’ve got to stop treating employee wellbeing like a nice-to-have perk that businesses can wheel out when someone is already burnt out.”
“7.2 million people experiencing poor mental health is an enormous number, and when one in six workers are saying their job is causing almost constant stress and unhappiness, we can’t just tell people to take a wellbeing day and call it fixed.”
Gateley said businesses make mistakes by putting too much responsibility on employees, meaning they are overloaded and need genuine support.
“Giving them access to an app for meditation isn’t going to solve the underlying problem,” he said.
The numbers behind the workplace wellbeing crisis
- According to recent data, roughly 7% of workers report they hate their current job, with a further one in three (31%) saying they are unhappy at work.
- Research shows that 22% of the UK workforce, around 7.2 million people, now have poor mental health, up by 2.9 million people over the past 15 years.
- Additionally, 17% of workers, roughly one in six, say their job is causing almost constant stress and unhappiness.
- 35% of UK workers say their work-related stress has increased over the past year, while 37% say they feel disengaged at work – that’s roughly 10.4 million people experiencing increased work-related stress and around 11 million feeling disengaged.
- 964,000 UK workers are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, resulting in 22.1 million working days lost.
- Additional research shows that over two-thirds of workers (68%) say they do some work on Sundays.
Gateley added: “The worst thing we could do is look at these numbers, shrug our shoulders and accept that this is just what working life looks like now. It isn’t. We just need to stop thinking that wellbeing is about making people happier at work, and instead focus on something much more basic: making work sustainable.
“Stop expecting people to answer emails at 10pm. Don’t reward people for working ridiculous hours. Give people clarity about what actually matters. Managers should have proper conversations with their teams, and listen when someone says they’re overloaded.”
Gateley commented further on how this affects startups in particular: “Startups are particularly vulnerable to normalising burnout because there’s always another deadline, another customer to win and another milestone to hit. The fact that 68% of workers say they do some work on Sundays, while more than a third report feeling disengaged, should be a wake-up call for founders. When you’re a small team, working late or checking in at the weekend can quickly become the culture rather than the exception.”
“Founders need to recognise that the way they work sets the standard for everyone else. If the expectation is that everyone should always be available, people will eventually burn out or disengage. Building a sustainable business means building a sustainable way of working too because the growth you’re chasing ultimately depends on having a team that has the energy and headspace to deliver it.”
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