Work stress in Czechia: a third say their workload is unsustainable

More than 60 percent of employees in Czechia are often or very often under stress, and roughly one in three considers their workload unsustainable in the long run. These are the findings of two studies presented by the companies Mavie and Edenred.

“Workplace stress is no longer just an individual problem but also an economic challenge. When people keep working despite exhaustion, the problem often stays hidden, yet its impact on performance, motivation and organisational results is very real,” said Mavie chief executive Ondřej Gandel. Experts define workplace stress as a state in which the demands of a job exceed a person’s ability to cope with them. It can be triggered by overload, time pressure, uncertainty, conflicts or little control over one’s own work.

People stay silent and keep working

According to the survey Mavie cites, the level of stress has risen over the past year for 40 percent of respondents. Although long-term stress and fatigue affect performance, most people say nothing about their problems: three quarters have not talked to anyone at work about their mental health in the past year, and more than two thirds would not confide even in their direct supervisor.

The picture is similar abroad. A survey from Austria shows that 83 percent of employees there keep working despite exhaustion, compared with 76 percent in Czechia. The reasons, however, differ markedly: 69 percent of Czech respondents cited financial motives, against only 39 percent in Austria – 30 percentage points fewer.

A signal for employers

An analysis by Edenred found that almost every second employee felt mentally or physically drained at the end of the working day over the past four weeks. Half of those surveyed added that it is precisely fatigue and lack of time that stop them from looking after their mental health. “This is an important signal for employers. It is not about removing all stress from work, but about creating conditions in which the workload remains manageable in the long term,” said Aneta Martišková, Edenred’s director of external relations.

More than half of respondents consider their workload manageable in the long run, but roughly one in three says the opposite. In addition, more than half of employees admit they think about work or deal with work matters outside working hours at least several times a week.

According to Edenred, care for mental health is gradually becoming one of the criteria by which people judge an employer: it is not only about specific benefits, but about the whole environment – how the workload is set, how team leadership works and whether employees genuinely have a chance to switch off from work. Expectations and reality often diverge, though: more than a third of workers said their direct supervisor does not take the workload and wellbeing of staff seriously.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz