Just 15% of workers would turn to their OH department if they were suffering from stress at work, a survey has suggested.
The study by the health charity Developing Patient Partnerships also found that only 23% would speak to their manager about it.
Automated call centres, mobile phones and computers crashing were the top three stressors of modern corporate life, and drove a third of people to drink and a quarter to take up smoking, it said.
The study also found that two-thirds of workers (64%) wrongly believed stress was an illness in itself.
Yet, while stress was now recognised as a major cause of sickness absence, 41% of the more than 1,000 people polled felt work actually helped them deal with their stress.
Indeed, 63% said they would not consider taking time off simply because they were stressed.
But at the same time a quarter admitted one reason for not taking time off for stress was worrying about what their boss would think.
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