Survey findings released on 9 October 2008 by recruitment company Talent2 indicate that Australian employees are feeling stressed at work as a result of the effects of redundancies.
John Banks of Talent2 said
“… 71.7% say they currently do the job of more than one person, and this makes for a very stressful and unproductive workplace.”
The press release for the study stated
“More than half of Australian employees believe they are operating under extremely low staffing levels and 82.1% say they are expected to do far more work today than they were 5 years ago, according to a survey of 2,703 people.”
Almost 60% of respondents in Western Australia said that their workplaces are understaffed. Between 48% and 58% of respondents in other Australian States agreed.
Banks said that companies can create a “false bottom line” by minimising staff numbers. He said
“Across the board, the sales/marketing sector has been most affected with 74.7% of employees in that industry asked to do additional work. The manufacturing sector is also guilty of asking staff to cover the work of more than one person with 74.2% of those surveyed dobbing in their bosses, and the legal sector is not too far behind at 70.4%.”
It is acknowledged that the volume of claims for compensation for workplace stress increases during periods of corporate economic hardship and redundancies.
A terrific short article on the costs and impacts of workplace stress in Australia can be found in a newsletter by the law firm, Landers & Rogers.
It is also useful to note that the Talent2 survey results were released in the same week that the ILO has been promoting decent work, Australia is running Mental Health Week and the United Nations has its World Mental Health Day.
What is amazing is that the expectations of output just keep getting higher and higher.
There are definite limits. One person, no matter how gifted, cannot single handedly run a Government Department.