Workplace anger 'on the increase'

Angry employees adopt a wide range of ways of coping

Growing workplace anger is cutting productivity and causing some employees to consider resignation, revenge or even murder, according to research.

The main cause is "immoral behaviour" - lying, stealing or cheating.

Researchers who conducted in-depth interviews with teachers, shop workers and nurses said they were shocked.

The details are to be announced on Thursday at the British Psychological Society's Occupational Psychology Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Other causes of the rampant fury sweeping workplaces across Britain include bosses exploiting their positions, not doing their jobs properly or regularly turning up late for work.

Incompetence, rudeness and arrogance are also making workers' blood boil, the survey suggests, along with "incredibly loud" colleagues.

People told me they were angry morning, noon and night Occupational psychologist Jill Booth

Angry employees adopt a wide range of ways of coping, including talking to others, letting off steam or cold-shouldering the offenders, the study indicates.

But anger levels often spill over into people's private lives and some workers get so stressed they have to take time off.

Occupational psychologist Jill Booth, a student at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, said: "The problem needs to be dealt with because it is causing people to feel depressed, stressed and disillusioned about their work.

"People told me they were angry morning, noon and night."

In a separate study, psychologists also found workers who receive threatening e-mails from bosses suffer from high blood pressure.