Gradus Research investigated how much and why office workers in Ukraine are stressed

Office workers/unsplash

In Ukraine, office workers experience stress much more often than in European countries. 78% of Ukrainians report feeling very nervous at the workplace.

Gradus Research conducted a cross-cultural study among office workers in Ukraine, as well as in seven other European countries with the highest estimated GDP: Germany , France, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands and Poland, and followed the key trends and differences.

Poland and Germany are the closest to Ukraine in terms of the level of stress among office workers., where about two-thirds of respondents declared recently experienced emotional stress (61% and 60%, respectively). At the same time, respondents from Spain and the Netherlands feel more relaxed at the workplace (42%).

It is widely believed in society that it is millennials who face the greatest number of difficulties in their lives due to various factors (building a family, career, raising children, etc.). However, according to the study, office workers from generation Z – respondents aged 25-34 years – are more stressed.

The share of millennials (interviewed aged 35-44 years) who felt strong negative emotions was about half (53 %), as well as representatives of Generation X (51% in the 45-55 age group).

Lower stress resistance of the younger age group can be explained by less experience of experiencing crises in professional life. Unlike the Zoomers, millennials and Xers, for example, already have the experience of covid and the transition to a remote work format, so for them the challenges of wartime and the state of uncertainty are less of a stress factor, – comments Yevgenia Bliznyuk, sociologist, founder and director of the research company Gradus Research.

Level of stress/Gradus Research

The TOP-5 main factors that cause stress among office workers include work, financial issues, family relationships, the state of one's own health, and the socio-political situation in the country.

• Work and issues related to it is the primary factor that causes emotional stress among respondents in all the studied countries, except for Ukraine – this indicator is the second most common in us (38% of respondents).
• The sociopolitical situation inside the country comes first(52% of surveyed office workers), which is obviously related to the challenges of the war. Respondents from other countries experienced negative emotions for a similar reason significantly less, in particular 27% – in Germany, 19% – in France, 12% – in Spain and 10% – in Italy.
• For about a third (34% ) office workers financial issuescause stress – and respondents from Great Britain feel this most significantly (45%). In Ukraine, this indicator was 36%, which is the average value among the countries participating in the study. In Poland, the number of surveyed office workers who are stressed due to financial issues is the smallest (25%).
• A quarter of respondents have recently experienced strong negative emotions due to family issues and relationships. With -among all age groups, Gen Z respondents (31%) were most concerned about this, compared to 21% of millennials and 20% of Gen X.
• State of own healthis the cause of emotional stress for 22% of surveyed office workers, with the highest rate in France (34%). Poland and Ukraine follow, in which the number of respondents who feel stressed about this is almost identical (25% and 24%, respectively).

Stress of Ukrainian office workers of workers is directly related to the experience of the war – the issue of the socio-political situation in our country and in the world in general worries us more than residents of other countries for obvious reasons. The invasion of Russia forced us to adapt to new conditions and set priorities accordingly. The lack of safe conditions for life causes stress, but at the same time it encourages the economically active part of the population to pay more attention to professional life, to strive for its stability. And this is a good sign that indicates a kind of normalization of life in the conditions of war, – comments Yevgenia Bliznyuk, sociologist, founder and director of the research company Gradus Research.

Level of stress/Gradus Research