Brussels, 10/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Work-related stress will increase massively over the next five years. That is the view expressed by four out of five Europeans polled by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA), published on 31 March 2012.
The opinion poll was carried out in 36 countries of Europe on a sample of more than 35,000 working people between 24 October 2011 and 17 January 2012. Some 80% of those polled say that work-related stress will increase, more than half believing it will shoot up.
The director of EU-OSHA, Christa Sedlatschek, says the results are hardly surprising at a time when the financial crisis and changes at work are putting ever greater pressure on workers. The perception of stress varies enormously around Europe, however. Only 16% of Norwegians said they were very worried, compared with more than 80% of Greeks saying that stress at work will increase massively. Across Europe, however, those polled agreed that good health and safety measures at work were a crucial component of efficiency at work. Some 86 % of those polled said that in order to protect a country's economic competitiveness, health and safety at work is a major challenge for both private companies and the public sector alike. (JK/transl.fl)