Majority of American workers are burned-out or stressed, according to new survey

The majority of American workers are in great need of a vacation due to high levels of stress and even burnout.

According to a new CareerBuilder survey, 3 in 5 workers (61%)  say they are burned out in their current job, while 31% report high or extreme levels of stress at their place of work. Despite the worrisome results, a third of all workers (33%) have not taken, nor do they plan to take a vacation this year.

Compared to the data registered in 2015, when 35% of the workers said they did not take a vacation,  the results are slightly down.

When workers do take advantage of vacation time, they are often not fully disconnecting from their job. More specifically,  3 in 10 of workers (31%) reported they still check their email during vacation and 18% of them check in with work.

More than a third (36%) admitted when they returned from vacation they found so much work has accumulated that they wish they never left the work at all. In addition, 18% of workers say vacations cause them to be more stressed about work. In addition, 18% of workers say vacations cause them to be more stressed about work.

This might explain why one in five workers (17%) still left vacation day unused in 2016.

While stress and being burned out impact workers across the organisation, the bottom ranks seem to be affected more than others. People in power positions are the least stressed of all workers.

In the case of senior management, 43% of them reportedly feel stress at their job, while 69% of the managers and team leaders said their work is impacted by high levels of stress.

“If you’re a boss, it’s important that you role model how to take a vacation,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder.

“If you’re prone to answering every email and phone call that comes through on your own vacation time, consider the example you’re setting for your team members. You need to set up an automated response email, and only respond to absolutely urgent emails while you’re away. Direct all calls to an assistant or colleague at the office. Show your employees that vacation time matters to you and to your company and its culture.”

Meanwhile, 58% technical staff members reported they feel stressed and 61% of the entry level and administrative workers also invoked stress as an issue.

Stress is also impacting areas such as job satisfaction. A third of workers with high levels of stress (33%) say they are dissatisfied with their job. Overall, 17% of workers say they are dissatisfied with their job.

Nearly a third of workers say work causes high or extreme levels of stress for them — an issue that is impacting women (34 percent) more than men (27 percent) — and 79 percent say their company does not offer classes or programs to manage that stress. As a result of stress, workers are experiencing symptoms such as anxiety, being tired all the time and even depression.

The national study was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from February 16 to March 9, 2017, among a representative sample of 3,215 full-time, private sector workers across industries in the U.S.