Workers are self-medicating to cope with workplace stress

More than one in four employees say they have put on weight in the past year as they struggle to cope with workplace stress, a new report has revealed.

Building Resilience in the Workplace, a new report by MetLife Employee Benefits, has stated how more than one in four (27%) of employees have put on weight in the past year as they struggle to cope with workplace stress, while 34% have turned to comfort eating and 23% have used alcohol to help them deal with work pressure. The strain is not just felt by the individual – some 29% of employees questioned say they are also arguing more with family as a result.

However, the report shows that not all stress is bad: 23% of employees have exercised more to beat stress, while 20% are opting to eat more healthily and 7% have cut back on alcohol.

The report includes a foreword by leading expert Dr Brian Marien of Positive Group, who writes: “The growing recognition that resilience training and strategies have a positive role to play in the workplace is a welcome development but we need to turn up the volume on the message so that more organisations can learn about the genuine business benefits on offer.”

Tom Gaynor, Employee Benefits Director of MetLife UK, said: “Stress has been described as ‘the health epidemic of the 21st century’ but there is less awareness on how tackling stress and wellness at work can prevent it becoming a problem in the first place. Prevention is clearly better than cure but it is more easily said than done. Helping employees to build resilience is a major way for employers to tackle the problem and managers have a major role to play. Organisations which do not invest in improving resilience run the risk of having to invest heavily in recruitment as employees are likely to seek other employment if nothing is done to help them cope.”