Fifty three percent of workers in Ireland are feeling stressed at work and almost half, (48%) are working extra hours for no additional reward. This according to the latest Matrix Recruitment’s Annual Salary and Benefits Survey which was conducted online in November 2017 amongst 1,754 people (58% female, 41% male) across a broad range of industries including accountancy and financial services, advertising and marketing, the IT sector, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, hospitality, tourism, food & drink and construction.
The survey finds that women are more stressed than men at work (57% v 47%) and that the main cause of stress is having too much work to do, which was reported by 52% of respondents. Forty four percent of workers said that they do not receive enough support from management or colleagues and having to work late most days of the week is stressing out 33% of Ireland’s workers.
It is estimated that 22% of Irish workers receive overtime payments whilst 20% are awarded days in lieu. However, almost half (48%) are not rewarded for working outside of the hours for which they are contracted.
The survey also asked about people’s intentions to look for a new job next year. Of those who said that they were not planning on moving job in 2018, 39% said they were happy in their current position and 24% said they would not move out of loyalty to their employer.
The majority of people surveyed are contracted to work between 31 – 40 hours a week (76%) and 12% are contracted to work more than 41 hours but, according to Matrix Recruitment, 50% actually work more than 41 hours every week.
When it comes to pay rises, expectations are not in line with reality. Fifty six percent of those surveyed said that they expected a pay rise in 2017, with men more confident of a salary increase than women (61% v 53%). However, only 37% actually received a pay rise, which is broadly in line with last year’s survey results. Of those workers who received a pay rise in 2017, 37% received less than €1,000, 39% got a pay rise of between €1,501 and €2,500 with a further 20% getting more than €4,000.
The survey shows that many people are reticent about asking for a pay rise. More women (41%) than men (27%) reported not being comfortable at all when it comes to asking for more money, which could be hindering their long-term financial prospects.
Commenting on the survey, Matrix Recruitment’s Joanne Foley said, "When it comes to the annual pay rise employees are a pretty optimistic lot, and this is a trend we have noticed year-on-year. Notwithstanding the fact that reality falls far short of expectations, 66% of workers are still anticipating a pay rise in 2018. So optimism prevails, but for Ireland’s workforce, that’s not necessarily a bad thing."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
