Stress is a major global health concern. Prolonged stress has been linked to multiple mental and physical health conditions including anxiety, depression and burnout, write Dr James A.K. Erskine and Dr Linda Perkins-Porras.
There is a rapidly growing need for training in resilience to improve individual and organisational coping strategies at the main source of stress – the workplace. There are many reasons explaining why work stress has become so toxic. Employees spend a large amount of time at work having to manage the constant demands of high workload and pressure to produce results along with lack of autonomy, increasing digitalisation and technological change.
This can be exacerbated by difficult workplace relationships and possible exposure to bullying and harassment. In the current economic environment, worries about finances and job security are common. There is a wealth of evidence showing that occupations in healthcare and medicine are particularly stressful, alongside other emergency services, police and military.
In the NHS, in 2023 anxiety, stress and depression accounted for 20% to 28% of sickness absence – the most common reason for sickness.
In 2024, 73% of National Health Service staff reported experiencing burnout or exhaustion at least some of the time, with 27% feeling this way “always” or “most” of the time. UK employees were absent an average of 7.8 days over the past year, the highest level in over a decade. Mental health accounted for 39% of short-term absences (2023 data).
In the NHS, 32% of staff reported often thinking about leaving their organisation, up from 27% in 2020 (2023 data). A survey indicated that 47.5% of NHS healthcare workers have left their role or are considering leaving, citing feelings of being undervalued and discrimination (2023 data).
The Royal College of Nursing reported a 54% increase in nursing staff contacting them reporting suicidal thoughts since November 2024, with 69% citing workplace pressures as a reason (2024 data).
This crisis of health in healthcare settings is poetically ironic yet requires serious consideration and action. Resilience is not a skill we are born with. It develops with life experience and can be learned using effective, evidence-based interventions.
Reducing workplace stress would have multiple long-term benefits for organisations, leaders, workers and nations. For example, increased productivity, workplace commitment, happiness and well-being which simultaneously reduce stress and absenteeism, staff turnover and staff sickness. Furthermore, these interventions are known to provide economic returns on investment. The World Health Organisation estimate a return of $4 for every $1 spent on prevention. Despite the clear benefits of interventions aimed at prevention, estimates suggesting that only 5% of mental health funding goes towards this.
These issues are immensely costly to multiple global economies with estimates suggesting that the combined cost of stress and mental health to the Western world economies of UK, US and EU is over 1000 billion dollars per annum. With the UK alone making up 102 billion per year. Furthermore, Goh et al. (2016) reported that 120,000 deaths per year in the US are related to how companies manage their staff (roughly 5 to 8% of annual healthcare costs).
Individuals can be trained to be more resilient, and this results in them being better able to manage stress in workplace contexts. Our research group, MettleFlo, has designed and developed an intervention in partnership with The Learning Rooms aimed at building resilience. We wanted this to be evidence based, scientific yet accessible and engaging to use. It can be delivered remotely via online training to avoid the stigma of public identification in seeking help and cost effective for individuals or organisations. This course is now available at thelearningrooms.com.
Despite the gravity of these issues, careful planning and investment in people can lead to a future where individuals are better equipped to manage the pressures and fluctuations of work and environment to live happier, more productive lives.
