95 per cent of managers are stressed at work

A survey by online learning provider, SkillSoft, shows that 95 per cent of managers find life at work stressful and 28 per cent have taken time off work as a direct result.

To help address this, SkillSoft is offering three courses via the demonstration area of its website to assist people in dealing with stress. The full courses will be available until the end of 2006. They can be accessed by anyone at any time without charge at the following url: www.skillsoft.com/EMEA/demo.asp (further details about each course at the foot of this release.)

Kevin Young, Managing Director of SkillSoft EMEA explains:

ìStress in the workplace is a major issue for businesses. Helping people to manage stress can have a positive effect on their effectiveness at work and reduce the number of stress-related absences. Non-managerial staff can benefit too; our research shows that they are almost as stressed as their bosses.î

More than half the managers surveyed can never imagine a stage in their life when they are completely stress-free and 58 per cent of managers think they probably spend most of their lives stressed in one way or another. Worryingly, almost 70 per cent of managers say they wake up in the night due to feelings of stress.

The major causes of management stress at work are*:

1. Workload ñ 61.6 percent
2. Deadlines ñ 50.3 percent
3. Feeling undervalued - 38.9 percent
4. Having to work longer hours than they should ñ 37.3 percent
5. Having to take on other peopleís work ñ 34.1 percent
6. Lack of control over their day - 31.9 percent
7. Targets - 30.3 percent
8. Type of work ñ 30.3 percent
9. Too many emails ñ 28.1 percent
10. Organisational changes that impact on them and their job ñ 27 percent

* Respondents could pick more than one cause of stress

Top ten colleague irritations* :

1. Seeing other people not pulling their weight ñ 56.1 percent
2. Bosses changing their minds about what they want you to do ñ 37.3 percent
3. Lack of support from bosses ñ 29.7 percent
4. Pressure from bosses ñ 28.6 percent
5. Interruptions by bosses ñ 23.8 percent
6. Feeling put-upon by bosses - 22.2 percent
7. Lack of support from colleagues ñ 21.6 percent
8. Bullying behaviour by bosses ñ 17.8 percent
9. Feeling put-upon by colleagues ñ 11.4 percent
10. Bullying behaviour by colleagues 9.2 percent

* Respondents could pick more than one colleague irritation