Brits ‘experiencing higher stress’ in credit crunch

Many people are putting themselves at increasing risk of work-related stress in the wake of the credit crunch, it has been claimed.

A Bupa survey of ten of the UK’s biggest cities has found that over two in five people stated that their levels of stress at work have increased since the onset of the economic downturn.

And a quarter said they were working longer hours in order to decrease the risk of losing their jobs.

Over a third of employees are concerned about being laid off as the credit crunch takes hold, the study revealed.

Birmingham and Bristol were the top two cities for job insecurity, as employee fears were five percentage points higher than the national average.

Spokesperson Dr Rebecca Small said: “For employers, the onus will be on spotting the signs of employee stress early.”

Recently, research from health insurer HSA revealed that many workers are afraid to call in sick as they fear for their jobs – potentially making it harder to clear debt.

By Jamie Price