Economic Meltdown Results in Longer Shifts, Sleepless Nights for Brits
Almost 8.4 million Brits have been sleeping less over the past year as the economic meltdown-hit companies have forced them to stretch their work hours longer, a new survey of 2,100 workers by insurer RSA and YouGov has found.
The survey saw 62 percent of the participants attributing their sleeplessness to work and work-related stress; they said they lose about 3 hours of a night’ s sleep. Nearly 53 percent blamed longer working hours or office-related worries for their lack of sleep.
The study also discovered that men were more stressed by their jobs than women, with 62 percent men spending sleepless nights. A relation between wages and work stress also came into light - the higher paid professionals were more stressed and complained of losing sleep over work.
According to RSA casualty director Phil Bell, the study clearly demonstrated how the fear of being laid off gripped the minds of workers, caused them to become anxious about work and thus lose sleep. He said bosses must take care their employees get enough sleep, failing which the workers can get “forgetful” and “unfocused” and may thus be more susceptible to workplace accidents.
RSA calls the problem WAWAW - wide awake worrying about work. While the average Brit needs to sleep 7.25 hours a day, the poll revealed that about 37 percent complained about the shortage of sleeping hours and the resultant low performance at work. Eight out of 10 revealed they never shared their job security fear with their bosses.
All organisations need to make appropriate efforts to protect the well-being of staff, Workplace Law provide courses by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which impart training to managers to successfully manage appropriate policies and procedures and improve upon management skills to help tackle stress in the workplace.