Stressed and anxious because of work? Then it’s time to get a new job

Colette Sexton, news correspondent at The Sunday Business Post, reports that while the economy is going from strength to strength, workers are more stressed than ever.  

We put down a rough decade in Ireland. During the recession, many people experienced redundancies, pay cuts, economic emigration, and unemployment. Recently, things have started to improve. Amazon Web Services, which offers pay-as-you go cloud and data storage services, just announced it would create 1,000 high-skilled technology jobs in Dublin, nearly doubling its Irish operation. It was good news, but while that kind of job announcement would have taken over the radio and press for days during the recession, the reaction was somewhat muted.

Getting a job, for the vast majority of the population, is not a major issue now compared to what it was like during the downturn. The jobless rate fell to 5.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 and now the total employment in the Irish economy is 2.237 million, just above the boom-time high recorded in the final quarter of 2007. Ireland is doing great, in economic terms. We should be happy, but according to a new report on mental health in the corporate workplace from VHI, we are not.

A large amount of corporate employees in Ireland are suffering from worrying levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Only 16 per cent of those surveyed said that they were extremely satisfied with their lives while one in five people (21 per cent) said they are extremely or very stressed. Women, those under 34 and people in the tech sector most concerned about their mental health, according to the survey which interviewed 392 employees up to the age of 45 working in the corporate sector in businesses with more than 100 employees.

Even though the economy is doing much better than in previous years, pressure has increased. One in three people said there were more stressed than they were two years ago, the research conducted by B&A found.

If you are one of those people that are feeling too much stress in work, what should you do? Firstly, you should talk to your boss about it and see if they can reduce your workload or the pressure you are under. If your boss does not help matters, then you should consider changing jobs.

You would not be alone. A third of people surveyed said stress in their jobs would make them to consider moving jobs. Of course, moving jobs itself is a stressful process. Job applications and interviews are not fun. But it is short term pain for long term gain. Time spent in work accounts for one-third of your life and if you do not enjoy that time, it will adversely impact your personal life. If you get up every morning with a sense of dread about what lies ahead for you at work, it is time to look elsewhere. We are no longer in recession. There are jobs out there. Go find the right one for you.