Stress levels double during pandemic, with 30 pct of Romanian employees ending up exhausted

Stress levels doubled during the coronavirus pandemic for one in four Romanian employees, and 30 pct of them have already reached exhaustion, according to a BestJobs release sent on Thursday to AGERPRES.

Thus, more than 70 pct of Romanian employees who participated in a survey conducted by the recruitment platform BestJobs say that the level of stress in the workplace has increased since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and more than a quarter of them appreciate that the stress level has even doubled.

After 10 months of pandemic, overwhelmed by tasks at work, fear, uncertainty and social isolation, nearly 30 pct of respondents admit they have already reached the burnout stage. Fatigue resulting from a demanding programme leads nearly 20 pct of employees to believe that within half a year they will reach exhaustion, if the stress is maintained at the same level, while almost 16 pct estimate that they will reach exhaustion within a year.

Disorganized and chaotic working environment (31.6 pct), overload (26.6 pct) and new responsibilities that are out of their area of competence (24.6 pct) are the three main stressors cited by employees who responded to the BestJobs survey. Another 23.8 pct of respondents explain the high stress by not gaining a balance between personal and professional life, and 21 pct are stressed because they have to take over the responsibilities of their colleagues.

Other important stressors for more than half of the respondents to the BestJobs survey are the delay of important decisions by direct superiors (15.6 pct), the possibility of job loss (14.8 pct), lack of direct interaction with colleagues and direct manager (13.7 pct) or the much too long time allocated to online meetings (8.6 pct).

The pandemic has brought a huge change in the way of working. Some employees quickly adapted to home work (24 pct), others less so. The fact is that most employees would prefer to return to the office (35 pct), while more than 30 pct would opt for a hybrid program - in which they can work up to 5 days a month at home.

An unexpected result in the context of the current crisis is the declared intention of more than half (56.3 pct) of the BestJobs study respondents to consider a job change in the next 6 months.

The BestJobs survey was conducted between November 20 and December 5 on a sample of 1,421 internet users.