Protectics Limited - Stress Survey 2004.
               
               

The Protectics Stress Survey is an ongoing International web-based survey that started on the 29th July 2004 There have been 488 responses as at 26th August 2004

 

          

The survey is broken down into five questions and results are shown as Worldwide, UK and Non-UK.
               
               

Question 1 - How often do you feel stressed?
 

ALL

UK

NON-UK

ALL%

UK%

NON-UK%

Never   

8

8

0

  

1.64

2.05

0.00

Sometimes   

317

262

55

  

64.96

67.01

56.70

Often   

109

81

28

  

22.34

20.72

28.87

Most of the time   

51

39

12

  

10.45

9.97

12.37

Always   

3

1

2

  

0.61

0.26

2.06
               
 

488

391

97

  

100.00

100.00

100.00
               

This is an encouraging result with 64.96% of respondents saying that they were only stressed sometimes. However there are 11.06% of respondents who are under considerable stress showing that there is still significant room for improvement. ('considerable stress' being the aggregate of 'Most of the time' and 'Always').
               

 

             

               

Question 2 - Where do you get stressed?
 

ALL

UK

NON-UK

ALL%

UK%

NON-UK%

At work   

160

122

38

  

33.68

31.69

42.22

At home   

38

33

5

  

8.00

8.57

5.56

At work and at home   

277

230

47

  

58.32

59.74

52.22
               
 

475

385

90

  

100.00

100.00

100.00
               
               

The answers to this question indicate that for the majority of people who suffer from stress it affects their whole life both at work and home. The other interesting finding is that only 8% of people said that home was the main place where they get stressed. This shows just how much stress is caused by issues in the workplace.
               

 

             

               

Question 3 - How do you show stress?
 

ALL

UK

NON-UK

ALL%

UK%

NON-UK%

I get depressed   

102

81

21

  

21.98

21.66

23.33

I ignore it   

50

38

12

  

10.78

10.16

13.33

I get aggressive   

129

107

22

  

27.80

28.61

24.44

I take time to relax   

92

70

22

  

19.83

18.72

24.44

I use stress management techniques   

91

78

13

  

19.61

20.86

14.44
               
 

464

374

90

  

100.00

100.00

100.00
               
               

The ways in which people deal with stress can be categorized by non-coping strategies (Getting depressed, ignoring stress, getting aggressive) and coping strategies (Relaxing, stress management techniques) and as can be seen from the above figures 60.56% of people do not use coping strategies.   
This may well be explained by the fact that knowledge of and training in stress management techniques, in a formal business setting, is a relatively recent practice. This means that most people have to try and cope with whatever personal resources that they have.
               

The particularly worrying statistic is that 27.8% of respondents stated that they get aggressive. This is always a poor response to stress. It can actually lead to increased stress (often for others) and reduced business performance.
               

               

               

Question 4 - What stresses you the most?
 

ALL

UK

NON-UK

ALL%

UK%

NON-UK%

Being overworked   

63

50

13

  

13.70

13.55

14.29

Being treated unfairly   

119

88

31

  

25.87

23.85

34.07

Being underpaid   

18

13

5

  

3.91

3.52

5.49

Not being listened to   

78

64

14

  

16.96

17.34

15.38

Not having enough time   

182

154

28

  

39.57

41.73

30.77
               
 

460

369

91

  

100.00

100.00

100.00
               
               

Not having enough time ranks No 1 for 39.57% of respondents as the thing that causes the most stress in business. This implies that either people are being expected to do too much, taking too much on, or are less efficient at managing their time than their job demands.
  
Also very significant is that being underpaid is considered unimportant with only 3.91% of people choosing this as most stressful.
               

 

             

Question 5 - In the last 3 years things that cause stress
 

ALL

UK

NON-UK

ALL%

UK%

NON-UK%

Gone down   

149

116

33

  

32.89

31.96

36.67

Stayed the same   

106

85

21

  

23.40

23.42

23.33

Increased   

198

162

36

  

43.71

44.63

40.00
               
 

453

363

90

  

100.00

100.00

100.00
               
               

This question produced the most interesting results with over 30% of people feeling that stress had gone down but 43% feeling it had risen. It is also very interesting that the percentage values to this question were very similar in both the UK and NON-UK responses.
               

               

               

Breakdown of responses by country, showing country name and current number of respondents.
               

               
               

Breakdown of 'Others' in previous chart.

            
               

               
               
               
Protectics Limited can be contacted on +44 (0) 1582 400111
or via email at info-survey@protectics.co.uk

The survey may still be taken online at http://www.protectics.co.uk/survey