12 June 2015

A survey commissioned by the Guardian to investigate public sector workers’ wellbeing has been published.

Over 3,700 people working in the public and voluntary sectors, “from social work to police and probation, from social housing to the NHS, charities and NGOs” were polled.

85 percent of respondents agreed that stress is a fact of life for those employed in the public and voluntary sector. 93 percent say they are stressed at work either all, some, or a lot of the time. The respondents worked an average of seven extra hours a week.

The Guardian says; “A clear picture emerges of staff working long hours, with few breaks, and a workforce that has become wearily resigned to this way of working.”

“It is clear that cuts are having a sustained impact on workloads. Social workers, for instance, report having more work to do, but not only are there fewer staff to deal with cases, cuts to voluntary bodies also mean there are fewer external support services for children and families.”

Read the Guardians’ article here.