One in two French people believe that the stress they feel on a daily basis is due to work

Les travailleurs ayant une santé mentale altérée sont 2,2 fois moins motivés à travailler de manière productive que ceux qui sont en meilleure forme sur le plan psychique. Photodjo/Getty Images

Ces vingt dernières années, le monde professionnel a connu d’importants bouleversements.

Companies are in a constant quest for optimization, which causes a lot of stress among their employees. In France, almost one in two workers say they do not have a manageable level of stress at work, according to a new survey by the start-up Teale.

Beware of stress at work

The mental health of employees in France has deteriorated so much that 23% of the 10,000 workers that Teale interviewed as part of its "Mental Health Barometer of Employees" are at risk of depression. If mental health can be influenced by a whole series of socio-economic factors, 48% of French people attribute their state of stress to their professional environment.

When stress is present, all areas of health are affected. Only 4% of stressed employees feel physically healthy. Even fewer people have the impression of being full of energy when they wake up (1%). Because stress and the ruminations it causes are very energy-consuming. Stressed people deplete their resources more quickly, which impacts their physical well-being but also their productivity.

Indeed, workers with impaired mental health are 2.2 times less motivated to work productively than those who are in better psychological shape. This shows to what extent excess stress can harm the performance of employees and, by extension, that of the company that employs them.

But in addition to being a guarantee of productivity, mental health is also a powerful lever for employee retention. Employees who feel their level of work stress is manageable are three times more loyal to their employer than those who allow themselves to be overwhelmed by their negative emotions. A figure that says a lot about the relationship at work.

Employment should not be a constraint

The more employees experience their job as a constraint, the more inclined they are to change. Nearly a third of employees are considering leaving their current company to preserve their mental health. It is therefore essential for managers to question this phenomenon and take the necessary measures so that work does not have a repellent effect.

One of them concerns the optimization of social relations within the organization. Studies show that maintaining strong social relationships is a protective factor against stress. This vector of well-being seems so obvious that employers often tend to neglect it. However, working in a good atmosphere is crucial. It is therefore appropriate to implement concrete actions within organizations to ensure that everyone feels good there.