Stressed small businesses hit the bottle

Someone working in a small business is twice as likely as an employee in a larger company to turn to drink due to work-related stress.

A survey of 3000 people, by leading healthcare cash plan provider Medicash, has revealed that 17% of workers in small businesses feel so tense that they need a beer or a glass of wine to de-stress at the end of the day compared with only 8% of those in cosy corporate roles.

Those in small businesses are also 50% more likely to take time off work as a result of stress. But despite being exposed to higher stress levels, their employers aren't providing them with the support they need to cope.

The survey showed that employees in large organisations are twice as likely to have access to free or subsidised gym membership, telephone counselling and face to face counselling.

Sue Weir, chief executive at Medicash, said: 'Smaller businesses often don't have the time or resource to devote to employee wellbeing initiatives and yet sustained levels of stress in a workforce can lead to long term sickness which is good for neither employer nor employee.

Encouraging employees to take a preventative approach to their own health by putting initiatives in place to help them manage their stress levels is proven to have a positive effect on a company's bottom line.'

Small business workers are more likely to claim that they have been bullied at work, while work worries cause sleepless nights for many with one in five claiming that they have trouble sleeping at least one night every week.

More than half those surveyed said that they had been driven to tears at work and twelve percent had even gone as far as quitting a job when the stress became too much to handle.

Perhaps most worrying is the fact that almost a third of workers say that they bottle up their feelings because they don't want people to see that they are under pressure.

Medicash's Sue Weir added: 'With so many people hiding their stress levels, turning to drink and taking time off as a result of stress it's more important than ever that employers promote dialogue as well as providing tools to help employees manage their stress levels. This needn't cost the earth and there are a number of simple and cost effective solutions such as free gym memberships and telephone counselling services which demonstrate an employers' commitment to the emotional wellbeing of their employees.'

Top 10 stress inducers in a small business

1. Dealing with difficult customers
2. Heavy workload
3. Computer freezing while you are in the middle of something
4. Boss asking you to do too much work
5. Boss asking you to do something which isn't in your job description
6. Printer breaking
7. Computer taking too long to get going
8. The internet not working
9. Phone ringing non-stop
10. Colleagues not listening to you