Dive Brief:

• Half of respondents in a new LinkedIn Learning report said they were stressed, and 70% of them pointed to their workload as the cause. The more than 2,800 respondents named their confidence in their job's future, sense of purpose, colleagues and work politics, and access to job tools as drivers of stress as well.
• The report cited Gen X as the most stressed out generation (54%), followed by Boomers (48%) and Millennials (46%). The report found that women and men are nearly equally stressed out, at 48% and 50%, respectively. The one notable difference between the genders is that women were more negatively affected by office politics.
• Stress levels correlated with seniority, the report found. Forty-eight percent of individual contributors said they were stressed out, while 56% of middle management and 61% of executives said the same.

Dive Insight:

The amount of stressed out workers reported by LinkedIn adds to the canon of research producing similar findings. An overwhelming 94% of workers in the U.S. and U.K. reported experiencing work-related stress in a 2018 Wrike study. About 4 in 5 respondents in a recent CareerCast survey reported being more stressed out than respondents polled two years ago. And more than half of the employees in a University of Phoenix poll said they experienced job burnout.

The magnitude of work-related stress is sobering, as is its cost in time and money. Employers lose billions of dollars on workers who are unproductive​ and disengaged at work because of stress, according to a Colonial Life study. Heavy workloads, along with health and money concerns, are major stressors that can cause workers distraction on the job.

HR can help reduce the effect of stressors. HR professionals can work with leaders to ensure that managers are trained to detect signs of stress and burnout in workers. It can also encourage workers to take their allotted vacation time, discourage workers from working after hours, and offer flexible work schedules and remote work opportunities. And finally, HR may help reduce stress among employees by fostering a "culture of health" through wellness initiatives to engage employees through wellbeing programs.