42% of Vietnamese workers regularly experience stress: survey

A total 42% of Vietnamese workers often or very often experience stress, according to a survey by Anphabe, a leading human resource consultancy in the country.

The survey collected responses from nearly 58,000 staff of 515 firms between April and September.

It added that for laborers that plan to quit in six months, the ratio of people who are often or very often under stress is 250% higher than those sometimes under stress.

Constant stress could lead to burn-out and eventually “quiet quitting,” which indicates staff working just enough to secure their jobs, according to Anphabe.

The survey showed that people with 2-5 years of experience are more vulnerable to stress, with 45% of respondents; followed by workers with less than two years of experience at 40%, and those with more than five years of experiences at 38%.

The most stressful sectors were industrial materials with 56% of respondents, banking with 53%, manufacturing/chemicals (49%), pharmaceuticals/healthcare (45%), and construction/architecture (44%).

The top stressful jobs were quality control with 50%, strategy and management (48%), doctor/nurse/pharmacists (47%), sales/trade marketing (46%), and customer care (43%).

Stress is more common among mid-level staff, with 44% of supervisors and 47% of managers, followed by directors with 41% and regular staff with 39%.

The most popular cause of stress was finance and family, featuring sub-reasons of financial pressure and post-Covid fatigue with 22% and 17% of respondents, respectively.

Other causes included job nature, with inadequate income at 17% and heavy workload and intense deadlines at 16%; working conditions with unclear and complicated working process at 11%; lack of fairness and respect in the workplace at 10%; workplace relationships with lack of recognition for achievements at 10%; and unclear and untransparent job assignments at 10%.

As finance and job nature are only two out of many reasons, Anphabe said wage hikes and workload reduction are limited, urging businesses to focus more on improving the well-being of employees, particularly physical, emotional, career, financial, and mental well-being.

The survey showed that only 15% of employers prioritize well-being of employees, in ninth, ranking behind many other priorities.