Over half of staff 'get burn-out'

The majority of bosses say they have no system to tackle burn-out

More than half of British workers say they have experienced symptoms of overwork and burn-out in the last six months, according to research.

One third said they had suffered exhaustion, while 26% had lost sleep or been ill from worry about work, human resources consultancy Hudson found.

Some 92% of employers acknowledged the existence of burn-out, but just 35% thought it was a problem in their firm.

The Survey Shop polled 1,006 employers, HR managers and staff for Hudson.

Almost half of employees said the situation had worsened in the last five years.

They blamed the increased pace of business life, increasing competition, and more demands being made on fewer staff.

Almost six out of 10 bosses said they had no system in place to tackle worker burn-out.

Some 14% of HR managers said they had lost staff due to burn-out, while 36% had seen a decline in productivity and 79% an increase in sick days taken.

"It is worrying that business managers do not appear to be able to increase productivity and hold on to top talent at the same time," said Hudson chief executive John Rose.

"For employers, an increase in absenteeism, premature career change and a decline in interest and productivity among employees can have a serious long-term effect on businesses success."