Nearly half of home workers feel they have no one to talk to about stress

A recent survey by Viking Direct, one of the largest office product suppliers in the world, has revealed that nearly half of people working from home in the UK suffer from stress and have no one to talk to about it.

67% of office workers, on the other hand, feel like they do have someone to turn to in times of stress, whether it’s a colleague, friend, or manager. However, that’s not to say that people working from home are the most stressed out of the two.

Overall, when it comes to a person’s working environment, the results show that office employees are in fact more stressed than those working from home, scoring their stress levels 5.39 out of 10. Factors that contributed to these stress levels included:

1. Working overtime
2. Not taking enough breaks
3. Having no one to talk to
4. Job satisfaction (or lack thereof)
5. Pressure to succeed.

It’s no surprise that a lack of breaks is causing stress, with half of office workers admitting to taking no breaks at all during the day, excluding lunch. Conversely, a massive 61% of people working from home said they took two to three breaks throughout the day.

Dr Mariette Jansen, also known as Dr De-Stress, is a stress expert, coach and trainer who believes that taking breaks at work is a healthy way to deal with stressful situations:

“Stress is the result of ‘stretching’ yourself too much, so any action to stop the stretching will avoid stress,” says Dr Jansen. “If you consider that the average attention span of an adult is about 20 minutes, you can understand that it’s important to have regular breaks.”

45% of office workers feel like they’re under an unpleasant amount of pressure on a weekly basis, whereas 30% of people working from home say that they never feel this way. This also correlates with office workers’ level of job satisfaction – 60% of office workers feel a lack of fulfilment from their jobs at least once a week.

Ruud Linders, Marketing Manager Europe at Viking, said: “I think the recent findings highlight how important it is for employees and employers, whether working from home or in an office, to have someone they can speak to about any work-related problems. Having an outlet for stress can really help to ease any unpleasant pressure; this could be exercising, taking a break from your desk, meditating, or simply confiding in someone about your worries.”

For more of Viking’s findings, along with a stress quiz and de-stress guide, visit the website here.