Nine in 10 charity workers have felt stress, overwhelm or burnout over the past year, survey shows

More than nine out of 10 charity workers say they have felt stress, overwhelm or burnout over the past year, research conducted by Third Sector shows.

The survey of more than 350 charity workers also found that 90 per cent of respondents said they had taken on extra hours or more work during the period.

The survey found that 94.3 per cent, the majority of whom held managerial positions, said they had experienced stress, overwhelm or burnout over the past year.

Asked to identify the main causes of those feelings, 80.6 per cent identified the Covid-19 crisis, while almost two-thirds said it was poor work-life balance.

Funding concerns was identified as a reason for stress by 40 per cent of participants, while poor organisational culture was chosen by 38.4 per cent.

Slightly more than one-quarter said job insecurity was a cause of stress (respondents could choose more than one answer).

Responding to another question, almost three-quarters of participants said they had felt pressured to take on more work to achieve their organisation’s aims; 21.3 per said they had not.

The remainder answered “other” or said it was not applicable to them.

More than four-fifths of respondents said they were more likely to put themselves in situations that led to stress, burnout or feelings of mental exhaustion if their charity’s cause area or service users were going through a crisis.

While the majority of respondents said they were comfortable discussing stress, burnout or mental health concerns with their line manager, almost a third said they were uncomfortable with this.

The latest edition of Third Sector contains an in-depth article on the subject of mental health and wellbeing, which can be found here.