Are some jobs more stressful that others? The answer depends on how stress is defined and the degree to which people will respond in similar ways. Another factor is the degree of support offered to a profession in general or by a specific workplace.
Eleos, a digital provider of protection insurance, undertook a review of workplace mental health issues. This comes in the context of mental illness being the most common cause of sick leave among the under 45s. The data relates to people working in the U.K.
During 2024, Eleos asked 10,287 people in 850 occupations: ‘Have you ever had any form of anxiety, depression, stress related condition, eating disorder or mental illness?’ 46 percent of people answered “Yes”.
The company asked 10,000 people across the UK to uncover the link between occupations and mental health challenges. The outcome showed that teachers and administrators top the list, with 59 percent reporting mental health struggles.
The top 12 occupations were identified as:
- Teacher
- Administrator
- Hospitality worker
- Retail worker
- Cleaner
- Care Worker
- Nurse
- Accountant/ Financial advisor
- Chef/cook
- Warehouse worker
- Tradespeople
- Drivers
Just outside the Top 12 are factory workers, cleaners and call centre workers.
Coming in first place are teachers. Most people enter the teaching profession because they want to make a positive difference. According to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (now the NEU), this has been cited as the main motivation by 80 percent of teachers.
Yet teachers are leaving the profession at the rate of 40,000 a year, which is 10% of the total workforce. The biggest reasons given in employee exit interviews are the stress and burnout caused by workload and working conditions. The fact that our survey puts them at the top of the list for mental health problems bears this out. This is regrettable not only for the teachers themselves, who have undergone years of study, but for the school children of today and tomorrow.
Coming in seventh position are ‘nurses’ (designed to represent healthcare workers). People do not go into the caring professions like nursing, caring and social work for money; instead most seek to fulfil essential roles in our society.
At 12th position are drivers, 35 percent of whom report mental health problems. This is a profession of over 1.25 million that includes HGV drivers, delivery drivers , taxi drivers , uber and Bolt drivers and bus or coach drivers). The freedom of the road might be the ideal, but the reality is clearly very different. The main stress factors are heavy schedules, tight deadlines and the complexities of navigating the UK’s road system, with its clogged streets and crumbling infrastructure.
