Workers who consistently curse their packed diaries, late nights at the office, and back-to-back meetings could actually be the least productive employees in an organization, according to a new report.
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A new study by Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), compared self-reported productivity between stressed and non-stressed employees and found that only 63% of stressed workers reported above average productivity, while 87% of their non-stressed counterparts felt that their productivity levels were above average.
The stirring results challenge the misconception that stress is often a natural (or even positive) marker of successful, driven employees. They accompany a number of eye-opening findings from the report, the latest in the performance leader's series of GCC Insights papers, based on aggregate data drawn from employees in 185 countries.
In addition to the correlation between stress and productivity, the paper revealed that one in every three employees (36%) reported feeling above average stress, with a further 39% reporting moderate levels of workplace stress. Women also reported feeling more stressed than men, both from work and home sources.
GCC's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Batman, said, "In an increasingly complex and demanding workplace, stress at work has become the modern back pain - commonly present, little understood, full of misconceptions and often unrecognized or talked about."
Dr. Batman said stigma still surrounds mental health and highlighted the need to increase awareness. "There's still a lot of educating to be done when it comes to tackling psychological problems like stress, anxiety and depression," he added.
"This paper not only gives insight into these problems, it also provides a simple and effective solution and demonstrates the effectiveness of the GCC in helping both employees and businesses become more resilient."
More than 1.5 million employees and some of the world's most recognized brands have benefited from the GCC's international health program over the past 12 years, which means GCC Insights reports are based on some of the largest and most diverse employee samples available. ■