(Finance) – Alone 20% of workers, whether white or blue collar, they actually feel comfortable expressing their emotional state within the work context. This data highlights how the professional environment continues to be perceived as unsafe to deal with any personal and psychological difficulties. At the same time, stress levels related to excessive use of overtime remain high, further worsening overall psychological well-being.
This is the picture that emerged from the latest survey conducted by BVA Doxawhich for five years has been photographing the psychological health of Italian employees, analyzing both their emotional conditions and the coping strategies used to deal with the work load. They emerge from the study strong critical issues related to psychological well-being.
THE managers confirm that they are the category with the greatest psychological well-beingif compared to the others, despite a slight worsening compared to previous years. However, among blue collars, well-being is still profoundly compromised, although a modest improvement can be observed compared to the past. White collars also maintain a stable conditionwith stress levels comparable to previous findings and without obvious differences between generations.
The analysis also investigated the factors that negatively impact emotional well-being. Among these stand out inflation and the general increase in costsfollowed by high utility bills, international conflicts and concerns related to climate change. These macroeconomic problems are added to factors intrinsic to the working context, such as the perception of inadequate wages and the absence of rewards and incentives, as well as poor growth prospects. All these aspects contribute to negatively influencing the personal and professional condition of workers, with 40% of them declaring they frequently suffer from anxiety and insomnia.
But the feeling of tiredness and worry it is particularly widespread among Generation Z, who experience high levels of anxiety. Young workers, in fact, often find themselves facing a disconnection between their training path and professional opportunities, with increasing difficulty in identifying with their work role. This phenomenon, aggravated by insufficient salaries and limited access to career opportunities, appears to be one of the main factors of discontent.
Biancamaria Cavallini, Scientific Director of Mindwork, underlines how “The Generation Z is increasingly in difficulty in finding a professional identity that reflects one’s expectations. This leads to a phenomenon of growing disconnection, so much so that it appears to be the generational cluster that resigns the most for reasons linked to psychological distress associated with work. Companies must therefore implement actions that are capable of build inclusive work environmentscapable of promoting the psychological well-being and engagement of all generations of employees”.
This year too the problems of Burnouts are present in all job categories. Although managers and white collar workers are the most affected, it is blue collar workers who experience the greatest difficulty in disconnecting from work and recovering psychological well-being. Among executives, burnout is often associated with a feeling of helplessness, perceived work-life imbalance, and a lack of fairness within the company.
These results clearly indicate the need for greater support for workers. In fact, although many companies have launched welfare programs, these often remain insufficient to meet the needs of employees, in particular for blue collar workers, the category least involved in such initiatives.
Mario Alessandra, Founder and CEO of Mindworkremember that “Psychological well-being should be a top priority for companies. Investing in this area not only improves the working climate and productivity, but significantly reduces phenomena such as absenteeism and turnover, especially among young workers”. Alessandra also underlines how “it is not just a matter of making tools available, but of create an inclusive and open corporate climate, where every individual feels listened to, supported and engaged”.
An interesting fact, in fact, is the positive correlation between investments in the psychological well-being of employees and company performance. About 70% of workers recognize the importance of these initiatives, while companies that make this commitment observe an improvement in both employee satisfaction and the long-term sustainability of the business. However, a disparity remains between the categories: only one company in two offers concrete initiatives for the well-being of blue collar workers, while for white collar workers and managers, smart working, flexible working hours and structured wellbeing programs are the most widespread initiatives.
The BVA Doxa study therefore confirms the need for renewed commitment by Italian companies to address the issue of psychological well-being. Despite some signs of improvement, the path towards psychologically safe working environments is still long.
(Photo: Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash)