Report: Northern Ireland has the highest level of work-related stress in the UK

Northern Ireland has been found to be the UK region with the highest percentage of people experiencing stress.

According to a new report, 17.7% of Northern Ireland reported being under stress, compared with 12.5% of the UK on average.

Northern Ireland also saw the highest increase in stress, increasing by 1.2% over the last five years, while the percentage of those experiencing stress has mostly dropped or stayed relatively stable.

The study from BusinessComparison has used data from the Labour Force Survey to assess which regions in the UK, as well as which sectors and career paths experienced the most and least stress in the last five years.

Contrastingly, the least stressed region was not particularly far off the national average - the north east of England had 10.8% affected in 2023, but it was closely followed by the south east and south west both at 11%.

The survey showed the top five most stressed professions were: Customer services occupations, services occupations, cleaning occupations, storage occupations and web and multimedia design professionals.

Work-related stress is a serious issue that can affect workers at any level of an organisation.

Philip Brennan, founder and managing director at BusinessComparison, explained: “It’s quite shocking to see just how much higher the stress level is in Northern Ireland than other regions of the UK.

"Work-related stress is very dangerous as it can have a serious impact on people’s health. It can also be a threat to any business on an organisational level, as a team of stressed staff will be calling in sick more than usual or maybe even driven to resign.

“I’d encourage all business owners in Northern Ireland to check in with their employees and see if any major factors are causing them stress at work. The Q4 report from the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Quarterly Economic Survey says that key concerns right now include difficulty recruiting and retaining staff, leaving many businesses operating below capacity.

“This issue of understaffing could be one of the reasons why employees of organisations in Northern Ireland might be under strain right now. With Stormont now restored and a budget due in April, hopefully the economy will see positive steps which may help alleviate some of the stress being felt by the people of Northern Ireland.”