A survey by online learning provider, SkillSoft, shows that 95 percent of managers find life at work stressful and 28 percent have taken time off work as a direct result.
(PRWEB) September 21, 2006 -- A survey by online learning provider, SkillSoft, shows that 95 percent of managers find life at work stressful and 28 percent 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: “Stress 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.”
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 – 61.6 percent
2. Deadlines – 50.3 percent
3. Feeling undervalued - 38.9 percent
4. Having to work longer hours than they should – 37.3 percent
5. Having to take on other people’s work – 34.1 percent
6. Lack of control over their day - 31.9 percent
7. Targets - 30.3 percent
8. Type of work – 30.3 percent
9. Too many emails – 28.1 percent
10. Organisational changes that impact on them and their job – 27 percent
* respondents could pick more than one cause of stress
Top ten colleague irritations*:
1. Seeing other people not pulling their weight – 56.1 percent
2. Bosses changing their minds about what they want you to do – 37.3 percent
3. Lack of support from bosses – 29.7 percent
4. Pressure from bosses – 28.6 percent
5. Interruptions by bosses – 23.8 percent
6. Feeling put-upon by bosses - 22.2 percent
7. Lack of support from colleagues – 21.6 percent
8. Bullying behaviour by bosses – 17.8 percent
9. Feeling put-upon by colleagues – 11.4 percent
10. Bullying behaviour by colleagues 9.2 percent
* respondents could pick more than one colleague irritation
The survey was undertaken by SWNS on behalf of SkillSoft during early summer 2006. 3045 respondents took part. Twenty two percent of this sample work in management roles. 43 percent of these hold managerial roles in the public sector and 57 percent are managers working in the private sector.
A full analysis of the findings is available from Louise Jaggs at TextOnTap. A separate analysis is also available comparing stress levels between the public and private sectors.
The three free courses are listed below. The courses are accessible via the demonstration area of the EMEA section of the SkillSoft website (http://www.skillsoft.com/EMEA/demo.asp ) and each of them is a FULL SKILLSOFT COURSE, typically taking around three hours to complete in one session. Alternatively, users can dip in an out at their convenience.
1. Coping with stress – duration approximately 3 hours
There’s no way to avoid having stress in your life, but there are techniques for combating it. This course will help you discover ways to manage stress. You will explore ways to anticipate stressful situations in order to reduce their disruptive effect. By the time you’ve finished integrating these lessons, you will have the tools you need to help keep stress in check.
2. Discovering Balance – duration approximately 4 hours
The pressures in today’s society can be enormous and tend to affect everyone sooner or later. But there are techniques that can help you maintain your equilibrium and succeed. In this course, you will discover what constitutes everyday balance, and assess your own life in terms of these key elements. Because a successful balancing act is an ongoing process, this course also provides you with the tools necessary to recognise the warning signs of imbalance – helping you to define boundaries and begin to establish balance in your life.
3. Time as a Resource – duration approximately 2.5 hours
Poor time management is often responsible for feelings of stress. This course is about establishing which tasks are important to you in your job and then finding time to do them. You will learn how to evaluate the importance of a task by looking at the return on the time invested. Then you will examine how you spend your time at the moment and look at techniques to reset your focus on what is important.
