Nearly one in five transport and logistics workers are considering quitting their jobs due to excessive stress, according to a mental health study.

It showed half of all workers in the industry have suffered excessive stress in the last 12 months, 17% are considering leaving their jobs and 10% have already quit. This is double the number of retail employees that have left their jobs and more than those in healthcare.

The study also found that more than one in eight staff who have suffered from excessive stress believed their company did not provide sufficient support for them.

The '2021 stress and mental health' study discovered up to 27% of employees took time off work this year for mental health reasons; 46.7% have struggled to sleep properly and 40% have withdrawn from others or socialised less.

Richard Holmes, director of Wellbeing at Westfield Health, said emotional, physical and mental exhaustion was causing burnout. “Pressure at work is usually the main culprit and when budgets are tight and teams are small, people often find themselves with multiple roles and heavy workloads, piling on the stress,” he said. “Policies like turning off email servers outside of working hours helps ring fence valuable recovery time.

“Mental health first aid training can also help managers spot the signs or triggers and put preventions in place.”

Claire Brown, a career coach and a former NHS occupational therapist said: “In this past year, we have seen the continued impact of the pandemic upon people’s careers and their experiences of the workplace.

“However, in addition to the existing challenges, there is now an increasing need to adjust to a constantly evolving and changing landscape.

“The constant change in expectations across a range of areas coupled with an absence of effective support structures and change management practices has led to an increase in work-related stress for many.”

She added: “Now, more than ever, employers need to prioritise the health and well-being of their staff teams otherwise they will find many employees forced to take sick leave due to stress or ill health.”

Last month, Scott Barry, operations director of Advanced Supply Chain Group, warned that changes to lorry testing including allowing provisional licence holders to take their artic test without first passing a rigid lorry test, would make HGV driving uncomfortable and stressful for new drivers.

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