Pressure at work
Tom Dejonghe, Sylva De Craecker - Acerta
Work-related pressure, well-being at work, and the mental and physical health of employees are just some of the issues that have become an integral part of a professional HR policy in recent years. Is work-related pressure more than just a buzzword and what do the figures tell us?
HR expert Acerta surveyed around 2 000 employees in Belgium to find out how they had experienced their work – especially workload – over the past six months. More than 600 companies were also surveyed. This survey revealed that around one in two people in Belgium (45.9%) feel that their workload is clearly too high. Just under half (49.1%) say their workload is balanced. A small minority (around 5%) consider their workload to be (far) too low, putting them at risk of boreout.
Surprisingly, 45.7% of employers share the view that the workload in their organisation is on the high side. Moreover, almost half of employers (47.2%) and more than half of employees (54.9%) feel that there has been a slight to significant increase in their workload over the past year.
So why has workload increased over the past year? According to 27% of employees and 25.2% employers, staff shortages are the main cause. An increase in tasks and responsibilities ranks second, with 26% of employees and 16.7% of employers stating this as the main reason for the higher workload.
Focus on better well-being
To ensure work remains manageable, many companies are implementing all sorts of well-being initiatives. With the increased focus on people on long-term sick leave in Belgium, these initiatives have been popping up everywhere in recent years. Seven in 10 companies (69.6%) now offer flexible working conditions, enabling employees to spread their workload more effectively.
Furthermore, 71.1% of employers focus on providing more meaningful work for each individual employee. In this regard, they focus primarily on autonomy and decision latitude in the workplace (43.8%). Employees also see this as the main source of job satisfaction (37%).
In addition, employers place great emphasis on a strong team culture and collaboration (40.7%). Far fewer employees (24%) see this as being the most important approach. On the other hand, only 22.5% of employers prioritise a varied range of tasks as a source of meaningful work. For 34% of employees, however, this is the second most important source of job satisfaction.
Reintegration after long-term absence
Almost seven in 10 employees in Belgium (69%) say they feel good in their job despite the high workload. At the same time, the well-being initiatives that employers are implementing to reduce work-related pressure can’t address every issue. Roughly a quarter of employees (24%) still feel like they’re on the verge of burnout.
Nearly two in 10 employers (19.9%) report having been involved with the reintegration of employees on long-term sick leave over the past year. According to employers (61.7%), the reintegration usually took place within the framework of a formal rehabilitation process. Organisations are quite positive about the success of their reintegration initiatives, with almost seven in 10 giving themselves a score of seven or more out of 10 in this regard.
Kristel Minten, Reintegration Expert at Acerta: ‘Taking a preventative approach to well-being and reintegration is crucial to retain employees for as long as possible. This is more important than ever, particularly in today’s tight labour market. It’s encouraging to see that employers are making a concerted effort to improve well-being at work through initiatives that are also often regarded as a high priority by employees.’
Kristel Minten: ‘When employees are absent from work due to a combination of factors, it’s important to support and monitor them in order to achieve a sustainable return to work. That process is anything but straightforward. If companies draw up a clear policy that explicitly sets out the arrangements and responsibilities of all those involved, and apply it consistently, the chances of a permanent return to work are greatest.'
About these figures
This data comes from the annual survey (‘Spiegelbevraging’) conducted by Acerta with the support of Bart Meuleman, who works as a sociologist, survey methodologist and lecturer at KU Leuven. The survey was carried out by research agency Indiville, using a representative sample of more than 600 Belgian employers and over 2 000 employees.
The employer data was weighted to be representative of Belgium based on the number of employees in active companies. The employee data was weighted according to status, age, gender and language in order to be representative of the Belgian employed population.
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