Why are millennials stressed and what can we do about it?

To continue reading please register or login to your OHW+ account.

A recent survey by LifeWorks found that 90% of millennials had been distracted by stress at work, despite being perceived as the carefree generation. How can employers ensure this important demographic are happy and productive, asks Dan Fellows?  I’m the first to celebrate the fact that issues relating to employee wellbeing are finally rising up the boardroom agenda, but I also know there is much work still to be done – both in terms of recognising when specific employees are struggling, and also knowing how to remedy them. LifeWorks recently commissioned a survey of 1,000 UK workers, examining everything from workplace stress to performance recognition, and benefits packages. The findings were surprising, and very insightful. Contrary to the perception that they’re the generation that’s been handed a free ticket to success, millennial workers were the most stressed. Ninety per cent of the millennials admitted to having been distracted by stress at work in the past year, with over a third (32%) regularly experiencing stress, and 6% being constantly distracted by stress.

Always-on culture

We know that UK employees are faced with increasing levels of stress in the workplace, and for the majority, no system has been put in place to resolve this growing problem. Contributing factors such as the "always-on" culture and an expectation that working overtime is just par for the course in the race to get ahead, have already contributed to elevating the stress levels of younger workers. These stats will no doubt come as a surprise to some. If it goes any way t