Almost half of UK workers (47%) spend the majority of their time feeling overwhelmed by their workloads, while 85% say that work is causing them stress, according to research from employee experience company Qualtrics. The Qualtrics Employee Pulse – a quarterly survey of more than 4,000 employees – highlights the impact of burgeoning workloads on today’s workforce and reveals better support from businesses is needed to ensure the mental wellbeing of staff.

More than half (52%) of UK workers believe their employer does not promote a healthy work-life balance and only a third say that their managers help them to manage their workload. The situation is worst in the North West of England, with only 49% of workers saying they are happy with their current work-life balance, followed by 53% in London and the South East. In contrast, the percentage of satisfied workers peaks at 60% in the North East, closely followed by 58% in Scotland.

Commenting on the findings, Sarah Marrs, Employee Experience Specialist at Qualtrics, said, “ Work-life balance is a hugely important part of modern business and a key driver in keeping staff motivated and satisfied. The fact that so many workers are struggling to stay on top of their workloads is a real cause for concern. A business’ employees are its key assets – so the mental health and wellbeing of staff should be a top priority for organisations looking to engage their teams and boost productivity. If employees are stressed, tired or overworked, those feelings will rapidly trickle down into the quality of their work and is more likely to result in their choosing to leave the organisation. Finally, it’s important to remember that employees are often the face of a business to customers – and no business wants their customer interaction to be one of stress and overwork.”