100+ Workplace Stress Statistics and Trends 2026, With a 50-Country Stress Law Tracker
How many employees are stressed, who carries most of it, what drives it, how much sick leave and money it costs, and what the law in 50 countries requires employers to do about it. Built from 35 primary sources, plus a law tracker HR Stacks checked country by country.
Key findings
Six numbers that summarise the report
19 of 50
countries in the HR Stacks tracker legally require employers to assess and control psychosocial risks such as work stress.
HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, Oct 2026
7 of 50
countries give all workers a statutory right to disconnect. Another 10 limit it to teleworkers, a code of practice or one province.
HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, Oct 2026
11 of 19
binding stress-risk duties came into force in 2013 or later, the newest being Brazil’s in May 2026.
HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, Oct 2026
40%
of employees worldwide experienced stress a lot of the previous day in 2025, unchanged from 2024 and above every pre-2020 reading.
Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2026, 2025 data
964,000
workers in Great Britain had work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, losing 22.1 million working days.
HSE, 2024/25
840,000+
deaths a year are attributable to psychosocial risks at work, a burden worth 1.37% of global GDP.
ILO, Apr 2026
At a glance
Workplace stress statistics at a glance: the 22 numbers that matter
Each figure shows its period and source. Use Copy to take the sentence with its source attached.
How many workers are stressed
40% of employees worldwide experienced stress a lot of the previous day in 2025, the same as in 2024.Gallup, 2025
48% of US workers say they typically feel tense or stressed during the workday, up from 41% a year earlier.APA Work in America, May to Jun 2026
29% of EU workers experienced stress, depression or anxiety caused or made worse by work in the previous 12 months.EU-OSHA OSH Pulse, Apr 2025
964,000 workers in Great Britain had work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, up from 776,000 the year before.HSE, 2024/25
20.7% of Dutch employees reported burnout complaints in 2025, up from a low of 13.4% in 2015.RIVM Mental Health Monitor, 2025
Who carries the most stress
45% of managers reported daily stress in 2025, compared with 39% of individual contributors.Gallup, 2025
Manager engagement fell to 22% in 2025 from 27% in 2024, the largest one-year drop Gallup has recorded.Gallup, 2025
50% of employees in the US and Canada reported daily stress in 2025, the highest of any region Gallup tracks.Gallup, 2025
55% of US public school teachers report frequent job-related stress, against 34% of similar working adults.RAND State of the American Teacher, Jan to Feb 2026
What drives it
48% of US workers worry AI could make some or all of their job duties obsolete, the highest reading since the question began in 2023.APA Work in America, May to Jun 2026
44% of EU workers are exposed to severe time pressure or work overload.EU-OSHA OSH Pulse, Apr 2025
43.2% of Japanese workers with strong work stress name the amount of work as a main source.Japan MHLW, Oct 2024
Harassment and bullying caused 33.2% of mental stress compensation claims in Australia in 2023-24.Safe Work Australia, 2023-24p
What it costs
22.1 million working days were lost to work-related stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain in 2024/25, 62% of all days lost to work-related ill health.HSE, 2024/25
$67,400 is the median compensation for a serious mental health claim in Australia, against $16,300 for all serious claims.Safe Work Australia, 2022-23
147.3 million sick days in Germany were due to mental and behavioural disorders in 2024, 16.7% of all sick days.German Federal Government, 2024
12 billion working days are lost to depression and anxiety each year, costing about US$1 trillion in lost productivity.WHO, 2026 fact sheet
$20,683 a year is the modelled cost of burnout per executive in the US, against $3,999 for an hourly non-manager.American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2025
What the law requires
19 of 50 countries in the HR Stacks tracker legally require employers to assess and control psychosocial risk.HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, Oct 2026
Only 7 of 50 countries give all workers a statutory right to disconnect: Colombia, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Australia and Luxembourg.HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, Oct 2026
4 countries in the tracker have no stress duty, no right to disconnect and no compensation route: India, Vietnam, UAE and Kenya.HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, Oct 2026
39% of EU establishments with 20+ staff have an action plan to prevent work-related stress, up from 33% in 2019.EU-OSHA ESENER, 2024
01 · Prevalence
Four in ten workers feel stressed for much of the day, and the rate has not dropped back since 2020
Gallup has asked the same question since 2009. Stress climbed through the 2010s, peaked at 44% in 2021 and 2022, and has held at 40% for two years. That plateau sits above every reading before the pandemic.
How many employees are stressed at work? 40% of employees worldwide experienced stress a lot of the previous day in 2025, according to Gallup’s survey of 141,444 employed adults in more than 140 countries. In the US, 48% of workers say they typically feel tense or stressed during the workday (APA, May to June 2026), up from 41% a year earlier. In Great Britain, 964,000 workers had work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25 (HSE).
Global daily stress among employees, 2009 to 2025
Share who experienced stress during a lot of the previous day. Scale 20% to 50%.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
Other daily emotions, 2025
Global employees, a lot of the previous day
Scale 0 to 50%. Sadness and anger rose in 2020 and have not returned to 2019 levels (21% and 20%).
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
of employees were thriving in life in 2025, up one point and the first rise in three years.
still felt stress for much of the day. Wellbeing improved while stress stayed where it was.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
02 · Who
Managers, women and younger workers report the most stress
The gaps are a few points each, which is why one global average hides them. Managers stand out: more stressed than the people they manage, and less engaged than a year ago.
Teams tracking this need engagement surveys that split results by role and age, not one company-wide score.
Daily stress by gender, 2025
Global employees
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
Daily stress by age, 2025
Global employees
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
Daily stress by role, 2025
Global employees
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
Manager engagement keeps falling
Share of managers engaged at work, global
Non-managers were at 19%. Scale 0 to 40%.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 report, 2025 data; AI items Q1 2026.
US workers stressed often or always, by age
Share of US workers, February 2025
Scale 0 to 50%. In Great Britain the rate for women is 3,220 per 100,000 workers against 1,980 for men (HSE, 2022/23 to 2024/25).
Source: SHRM, State of workplace mental health pulse survey, Feb 2025; HSE, Work-related stress, depression or anxiety statistics in Great Britain 2025, 2024/25.
03 · By region
Where you work changes the stress rate by almost 30 points
The US and Canada sit at 50%, Post-Soviet Eurasia at 21%. A team in Toronto and a team in Warsaw can read the same 40% global figure and both be wrong about their own staff.
For employers: if you run teams in several countries, benchmark each one against its own region, and see the country hiring guides on our Employer of Record pages for local employment rules.
Daily stress by region, 2025
Employees who experienced stress a lot of the previous day
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
Daily stress in selected countries
Three-year averages ending 2025; not single-year values
Scale 0 to 70%. Canada (58%) runs higher than the US (50%) inside the same region.
Source: Gallup country-level data pages (SOGW 2026), three-year averages to 2025.
How national statistics measure work stress
Each country counts something different. Read side by side; do not rank.
Do not rank these. They measure different things: case rates, survey prevalence, burnout scales and sick-leave counts.
Source: HSE, Work-related stress, depression or anxiety statistics in Great Britain 2025, 2024/25; EU-OSHA, OSH Pulse 2025, Apr 2025; Japan MHLW, Survey on Industrial Safety and Health 2024, Oct 2024; RIVM Mental Health Monitor, burnout complaints among workers, 2025; New Zealand Public Service Commission, Public Service Census 2025, 2025; Försäkringskassan, Lägesrapport 2026:1, 2024 and Sep 2025.
04 · Causes
Workload is the usual answer. Job insecurity is the one rising fastest.
Every country that asks puts workload or time pressure first. What has changed in the US is fear of losing the job: worry about a layoff in the next few weeks or months rose from 26% to 32% in a year.
Psychosocial risks EU workers are exposed to
Share of EU workers, April 2025
Scale 0 to 50%.
Source: EU-OSHA, OSH Pulse 2025, Apr 2025.
Main sources of strong work stress in Japan
Workers with strong work stress, up to three answers, October 2024
Scale 0 to 50%.
Source: Japan MHLW, Survey on Industrial Safety and Health 2024, Oct 2024.
US worry about losing a job to an economic downturn
Employed US adults concerned about job loss in the next 12 months
In 2025, 54% said job insecurity has a significant impact on their stress, 65% said their company had been affected by government policy changes, and 20% called that impact significant or drastic. Scale 0 to 60%.
Source: APA, Work in America 2025, Mar to Apr 2025; APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026.
What stressed US workers point to
Base: US workers stressed by their job at least sometimes, February 2025
31% of US workers say their job makes them stressed always or often (30% in 2024), yet 54% feel fulfilled by their job, up from 40%. Fixing workload alone misses pay, staffing and management. Scale 0 to 50%.
Source: SHRM, State of workplace mental health pulse survey, Feb 2025.
05 · AI
AI worry hit a record in 2026, and it is highest where AI is already in use
Almost half of US workers now think AI could take some or all of their duties. Gallup finds the fear is higher, not lower, at companies that have rolled AI out.
For employers: when you introduce AI tools, say plainly which tasks change and which roles stay. Silence reads as a layoff plan.
US workers worried AI will make their duties obsolete
Share of US workers, 2023 to 2026
In 2025 the worry was 43% among middle managers, 40% among frontline staff and 29% in upper management. Scale 0 to 60%.
Source: APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026; APA, Work in America 2025, Mar to Apr 2025.
Expect their job to be eliminated within five years
US employees saying it is very or somewhat likely, Q1 2026
The all-employee figure was 15% in 2024 and 2025. Scale 0 to 40%.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 report, 2025 data; AI items Q1 2026.
64%
believe technology changes benefit employers more than workers (52% in 2025)
Source: APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026.
37%
worry they will fall behind colleagues if they do not use AI (30% in 2025)
Source: APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026.
24%
use AI tools at work every day, up from 16% in 2025 and 10% in 2024
Source: APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026.
25%
of EU workers say digital tools monitor their work or behaviour
Source: EU-OSHA, OSH Pulse 2025, Apr 2025.
06 · Hours and hybrid work
Flexibility does not lower stress on its own. Recovery time does.
Hybrid workers report more daily stress than fully remote or fully on-site staff. The best recent evidence on cutting stress comes from cutting hours: a six-country four-day week trial found lower burnout and no change in control firms.
See our hybrid work statistics and four-day workweek statistics for the wider data.
Daily stress by work location, 2025
Global employees
Fully remote workers have the highest engagement (30%) and the highest daily sadness (30%). Scale 0 to 60%.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (global data), Jan to Dec 2025.
Four-day week with no pay cut: what changed after six months
2,896 employees, 141 organisations, 6 countries, compared with 12 control companies
The largest gains were in burnout and job satisfaction, and were biggest for workers who cut 8 or more hours. The 12 control companies showed no improvement.
Source: Fan, Schor, Kelly and Gu, Nature Human Behaviour (2025), 2025.
Long hours
745,000
deaths from stroke and heart disease in one year were linked to working 55 or more hours a week, up 29% since 2000.
Source: WHO and ILO, long working hours estimates, 2016 data, landmark study.
50.2%
of Canadian managers often work to tight deadlines, and 34.6% do unpaid work in their free time several times a month (17.0% of all workers).
Source: Statistics Canada, Quality of Employment in Canada, Sep 2024 to Jul 2025.
37%
of US workers say work stress makes it hard to sleep. 49% of US workers say they can disconnect after hours or on holiday (2025).
Source: APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026; Mind Share Partners, 2025 Mental Health at Work Report, Mar to Apr 2025.
07 · Burnout and mental health
Burnout, depression and anxiety now overlap for most US workers, and most keep it quiet
Nine in ten US workers reported at least a minor mental health challenge in 2025, and more than half reported moderate to severe symptoms. Nearly half worry that raising it would cost them their job.
Mental health challenges among US workers, 2025
Bars show moderate to severe levels. n=1,153 full-time employees
90%
of US full-time employees reported at least minor levels of one mental health challenge.
76% reported burnout at some level and 48% have left a job for mental health reasons. The top named stressors were US politics (43%), global events (42%) and personal finances (37%).
Source: Mind Share Partners, 2025 Mental Health at Work Report, Mar to Apr 2025.
Talking about it at work
Share of workers
Dark green: concern. Light green: comfort.
Source: EU-OSHA, OSH Pulse 2025, Apr 2025; Mind Share Partners, 2025 Mental Health at Work Report, Mar to Apr 2025.
37%
of US workers say their work environment harms their mental health (32% in 2025)
Source: APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026.
20%
of US workers call their workplace somewhat or very toxic
Source: APA, Work in America 2026, May to Jun 2026.
16%
of working-age adults worldwide had a mental disorder in 2023
Source: WHO, Mental health at work fact sheet, updated Sep 2026.
2x
as likely to report no burnout or depression where employers actively support mental health, and 3x as likely to trust company leadership
Source: Mind Share Partners, 2025 Mental Health at Work Report, Mar to Apr 2025.
08 · Sick leave and claims
Stress is now the biggest reason British workers go off sick, and the most expensive claim in Australia
In Great Britain, stress, depression and anxiety made up 52% of work-related ill health and 62% of the days it cost. In Australia, a mental health claim keeps someone off work about five times longer than the average serious claim.
For employers: absence data sits in your HR system. If you cannot see stress-related leave by team today, your HRIS needs better absence reporting.
Workers with work-related stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain
New or long-standing cases
409,000 were new cases. The 2024/25 rate of 2,770 per 100,000 workers was significantly higher than the year before. 22.1 million working days were lost (16.4 million in 2023/24), 22.9 days per case.
Source: HSE, Work-related stress, depression or anxiety statistics in Great Britain 2025, 2024/25.
Share of work-related ill health in Great Britain, 2024/25
1.9 million workers with work-related ill health
Highest rates by industry, per 100,000 workers: public administration and defence 3,470, health and social work 2,830, education 2,620, against 2,040 for all industries.
Source: HSE, Work-related stress, depression or anxiety statistics in Great Britain 2025, 2024/25; HSE, Health and safety at work: summary statistics for Great Britain 2025, 2024/25.
median compensation for a serious mental health claim in Australia, with 35.7 weeks off work.
median for all serious claims, with 7.4 weeks off. Mental health claims rose 161% in ten years and are now 12.0% of serious claims.
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2025, 2022-23 and 2023-24p.
Japan
1,082
mental-disorder compensation claims certified in FY2025, a record for the seventh year
4,958 claims filed; 222 certified cases involved power harassment by a superior.
Source: Japan MHLW, workers’ compensation for mental disorders FY2025, Apr 2025 to Mar 2026.
Germany
147.3m
sick days due to mental and behavioural disorders in 2024
16.7% of all sick days; mental disorders caused about 42% of new disability pensions.
Source: German Federal Government, Sicherheit und Gesundheit bei der Arbeit 2024, 2024.
Sweden
22%
of sickness-benefit spending went on stress-related illness in 2024 (SEK 9.9bn)
79% of ongoing stress cases are women.
Source: Försäkringskassan, Lägesrapport 2026:1, 2024 and Sep 2025.
Brazil
546,254
temporary incapacity benefits granted for mental and behavioural disorders in 2025
Up 15.66% on 2024. Covers all causes, not only work.
Source: Brazil Ministry of Social Security, via Agência Gov, 2025.
What causes mental stress claims in Australia
Serious mental stress claims by mechanism, 2023-24 (preliminary)
“Other mechanisms” is our calculation (100% minus the three listed). Scale 0 to 50%.
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2025, 2022-23 and 2023-24p.
09 · Industries
Healthcare and teaching run hottest, even as physician burnout falls
Physician burnout has fallen for four years in a row, from 62.8% in 2021 to 41.9% in 2025. Emergency medicine and urological surgery are still close to one in two. Teachers report frequent stress at 55%, against 34% of similar working adults.
US physicians with at least one burnout symptom
Nearly 19,000 physicians, 106 health systems in 2025. Scale 30% to 70%.
Source: American Medical Association, physician burnout 2025, 2025.
Burnout by specialty, 2025
Highest and lowest specialties
Black line: all physicians, 41.9%. Scale 0 to 60%. Only the highest and lowest specialties published by the AMA are shown.
Source: American Medical Association, specialties with highest burnout, 2025.
55%
of US public school teachers report frequent job stress (62% in 2025); 59% of women teachers against 44% of men
Source: RAND, State of the American Teacher 2026, Jan to Feb 2026.
18%
of US teachers say they are likely to leave their job by the end of the 2025-26 school year
Source: RAND, State of the American Teacher 2026, Jan to Feb 2026.
40%
of US registered nurses plan to leave the profession within five years
Source: NCSBN, National Nursing Workforce Study, Mar to Dec 2024.
50%
of EU health and social care workers face severe time pressure or overload
Source: EU-OSHA, OSH Pulse 2025, Apr 2025.
10 · HR Stacks research
19 of 50 countries now make employers manage stress risk. Only 7 give workers a full right to disconnect.
HR Stacks checked the law in 50 countries where employers commonly hire, using legislation, labour ministries and safety regulators. Each country is scored on three questions and counted only if the rule was in force on 18 October 2026.
If you hire in these countries through an Employer of Record, the provider becomes the legal employer, but the duty still shapes how your team manages the work.
19 / 50
have a binding duty to assess and control psychosocial risk. 18 more have a partial duty.
7 / 50
give all workers a statutory right to disconnect. 10 more cover teleworkers only or use a code.
10 / 50
explicitly list work-related mental illness for compensation. 22 more allow it off-list or for trauma only.
5 / 50
have both a stress duty and a full right to disconnect: Colombia, France, Portugal, Belgium and Australia.
11 / 19
of the binding duties came into force in 2013 or later.
0 / 7
Middle East and Africa countries in the tracker have a binding stress duty, against 12 of 22 in Europe.
When binding stress-risk duties came into force
19 countries with a binding duty, by year in force
Slovakia
Portugal
Germany
Chile
Source: HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, 18 October 2026. Sweden shows the original AFS 2015:4 year.
Work Stress Law Tracker
50 countries, status on 18 October 2026
| Country | Stress risk duty | Right to disconnect | Compensation for mental illness |
|---|---|---|---|
| ArgentinaAmericas | NoGeneral OSH law only | PartialTeleworkers (Ley 27.555, 2021); repealed from 1 Jan 2027 | PartialClosed list excludes stress; some court awards |
| AustraliaAsia-Pacific | YesWHS psychosocial regulations (2023); Victoria from Dec 2025 | YesFair Work Act s.333M (2024; small business 2025) | YesPsychological injury claims accepted |
| AustriaEurope | YesASchG s.4 psychological strain (2013) | NoNone | NoNot listed |
| BelgiumEurope | YesWellbeing Act psychosocial risks (2014) | YesLaw of 3 Oct 2022, 20+ staff | PartialOff-list via Fedris, rarely accepted |
| BrazilAmericas | YesNR-1 psychosocial risks (26 May 2026); fines suspended by the Supreme Court since Jun 2026 | NoNone | YesBurnout listed (Portaria GM/MS 1.999/2023) |
| CanadaAmericas | PartialFederal harassment and violence rules (2020); Quebec adds psychosocial risks (2021) | PartialOntario written policy, 25+ staff (2022); federal law not yet in force | PartialProvincial boards, e.g. Ontario chronic mental stress (2018) |
| ChileAmericas | YesMINSAL psychosocial protocol, CEAL-SM method (2023), 10+ workers | PartialTeleworkers: 12 hours (Ley 21.220, 2020) | YesLey 16.744 covers mental illness of work origin |
| ChinaAsia-Pacific | NoNone specific | NoNone | PartialPTSD for police, medical and rescue workers (2025) |
| ColombiaAmericas | YesResolutions 2646/2008 and 2764/2022 | YesLey 2191/2022, all workers | YesListed (Decreto 1477/2014) |
| Czech RepublicEurope | PartialGeneral risk assessment (Labour Code s.102) | NoNone | NoNot listed |
| DenmarkEurope | YesExecutive Order on the psychosocial work environment (2020) | NoNone | PartialPTSD listed; others by committee |
| EgyptMiddle East & Africa | NoNone specific (Labour Law 14/2025 bans psychological violence only) | NoNone | PartialPTSD after a serious incident only |
| FinlandEurope | YesOSH Act 738/2002 (2003) | NoNone | NoNot listed |
| FranceEurope | YesLabour Code L4121-1 and DUERP; national stress agreement made binding (2009) | YesLabour Code L2242-17 (2017) | PartialOff-list route, 25%+ incapacity |
| GermanyEurope | YesArbSchG s.5 psychological strain (2013) | NoNone | NoNot listed; PTSD only as a work accident |
| GreeceEurope | PartialGeneral OSH; harassment policy above 20 staff (Law 4808/2021) | PartialTeleworkers (Law 4808/2021) | NoNot listed |
| Hong KongAsia-Pacific | PartialGeneral OSH duty; Labour Department stress guidance | NoNone | PartialOnly when caused by a work accident |
| IndiaAsia-Pacific | NoOSH Code general duties only (2025) | NoNone | NoNot covered |
| IndonesiaAsia-Pacific | YesPermenaker 5/2018 psychological factors, where a hazard exists | NoNone | YesListed (Perpres 7/2019) |
| IrelandEurope | PartialGeneral risk assessment (2005 Act s.19) | PartialWRC Code of Practice (2021) | NoNo scheme; civil claims only |
| IsraelMiddle East & Africa | NoNone specific | NoNone | PartialOnly if tied to a specific event |
| ItalyEurope | YesD.Lgs 81/2008 art. 28 work-related stress (2010) | PartialSmart workers only (L. 81/2017) | PartialNon-listed; worker must prove the link |
| JapanAsia-Pacific | YesStress Check Program, 50+ workers (2015) | NoNone | YesMHLW criteria for mental disorders (2023) |
| KenyaMiddle East & Africa | NoGeneral duty (OSHA 2007) | NoBill pending since 2023 | NoNot covered |
| LuxembourgEurope | PartialGeneral risk assessment under the Labour Code (L.312-1 to L.312-5) | YesLoi du 28 juin 2023, Labour Code L.312-9 (2023) | PartialOff-list, direct causal link required |
| MalaysiaAsia-Pacific | PartialGeneral risk assessment (2024); psychosocial guidelines | NoNone | NoGenerally excluded |
| MexicoAmericas | YesNOM-035-STPS-2018 (2019 and 2020) | PartialTeleworkers only (LFT art. 330-E, 2021) | YesListed in LFT art. 513 table (Dec 2023) |
| NetherlandsEurope | YesArbobesluit art. 2.15 psychosocial workload (2007) | NoBill pending | NoNo separate scheme |
| New ZealandAsia-Pacific | PartialHSWA 2015 covers mental health | NoNone | PartialOnly after a traumatic event |
| NigeriaMiddle East & Africa | NoNone specific | NoNone | YesMental stress covered (ECA 2010 s.8) |
| NorwayEurope | YesWorking Environment Act s.4-3 (2006) | NoNone | PartialOnly after a traumatic work accident |
| PeruAmericas | PartialIPERC risk assessment includes psychosocial factors (2011/2012) | PartialTeleworkers (Ley 31572, 2022) | NoNot on the occupational disease list |
| PhilippinesAsia-Pacific | PartialMandatory mental health policy and programme (DO 208, 2020) | NoBills pending | PartialPTSD only when triggered by a work illness |
| PolandEurope | PartialGeneral risk assessment (Labour Code art. 226) | NoNone | NoNot listed |
| PortugalEurope | YesLei 102/2009 covers psychosocial risk factors | YesLei 83/2021: employer must not contact (2022) | PartialOff-list if a direct consequence of work |
| RomaniaEurope | PartialGeneral risk assessment (Law 319/2006) | NoNone | NoNot listed |
| Saudi ArabiaMiddle East & Africa | NoNone specific | NoNone | NoNot covered (unconfirmed) |
| SingaporeAsia-Pacific | PartialGeneral risk management; mental well-being advisory is guidance | NoNone | PartialNarrow cases only |
| SlovakiaEurope | YesDecree 542/2007: mental workload must be assessed and reduced (2007) | PartialHome-office and telework staff only (Labour Code s.52, 2021) | PartialOff-list item; PTSD cases recorded |
| South AfricaMiddle East & Africa | NoGeneral duty (OHSA 1993) | NoNone | PartialPTSD from work trauma |
| South KoreaAsia-Pacific | PartialCustomer-facing and named worker groups only | NoNone | YesStress from harassment or customer abuse covered |
| SpainEurope | PartialGeneral evaluation (Ley 31/1995); inspectorate criteria (2021) | YesLO 3/2018 art. 88 (2018) | PartialCourts treat it as a work accident |
| SwedenEurope | YesAFS 2015:4 (2016), replaced by AFS 2023:2 (2025) | NoNone | PartialCase by case |
| SwitzerlandEurope | PartialMental health protection in ArGV 3 art. 2; guidance | NoNone | PartialOff-list, 75% work-causation test |
| ThailandAsia-Pacific | NoGeneral OSH Act only | PartialWork-from-home staff may refuse contact (2023) | YesListed (Ministry of Labour notification, 2023) |
| TurkeyEurope | PartialRisk assessment under Law 6331 (2012), no stress wording | NoNone | NoNot listed |
| UAEMiddle East & Africa | NoNone specific | NoNone | NoNot listed (Cabinet Resolution 33/2022) |
| UKEurope | PartialGeneral risk assessment (MHSW Regs 1999); HSE Management Standards are guidance | NoNone | NoNo state scheme; civil claims only |
| USAAmericas | NoNo federal stress standard; OSH Act general duty only | NoNone at federal level | PartialState by state; many states limit stress-only claims |
| VietnamAsia-Pacific | NoGeneral OSH law only | NoNone | NoNot listed |
What is changing
- Japan: stress checks become mandatory for workplaces under 50 staff from 1 Apr 2028.
- Argentina: the telework law and its disconnect right are repealed from 1 Jan 2027.
- Canada: a federal disconnect policy is law but has no start date yet.
- EU: the Quality Jobs Act proposal, expected to cover the right to disconnect, is due in Q4 2026.
- Malaysia and Poland: regulators have proposed psychosocial duties.
Suspended or dropped
- Brazil: fines under the new NR-1 psychosocial items have been suspended by the Supreme Court since 25 Jun 2026. The duty stays in force.
- UK: a “right to switch off” was dropped from the Employment Rights Bill in 2025.
- US: California’s right-to-disconnect bill (AB 2751) failed in 2024.
Major markets with no national rule
The US has no federal stress standard and no right to disconnect. India’s labour codes, in force since 21 Nov 2025, add no stress provisions. China, Vietnam, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have no stress duty either. Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics have strong stress duties but no right to disconnect.
11 · Costs
Stress costs employers in absence, turnover and claims. Prevention is the cheaper line.
The global figures measure different things, so keep them apart. Depression and anxiety cost about US$1 trillion a year in lost productivity. Psychosocial risks at work account for 1.37% of global GDP. Low engagement, a broader measure, cost about US$10 trillion in 2024, or 9% of global GDP.
Burnout is also a turnover problem. See the true cost of employee turnover for what replacing an employee costs.
Modelled yearly cost of burnout per US employee
Cost to the employer by role, simulation model
For a 1,000-person company with a typical mix of roles, about $5.04 million a year. Modelled cost, not observed spending.
Source: Lee et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2025), 2025 model.
Who pays for work-related ill health and injury in Great Britain
£22.9 billion a year, 2023/24, 2024 prices
Ill health accounts for £16.4bn (72%) and injury for £6.5bn. Shares of the total are our calculation. Stress is the largest single cause of the ill health but HSE does not cost it separately.
Source: HSE, Costs to Britain of workplace injuries and new cases of work-related ill health, 2023/24.
US$4
returned for every US$1 spent on scaling up treatment for depression and anxiety (landmark 2016 estimate)
Source: WHO and Chisholm et al., The Lancet Psychiatry (2016), landmark study.
€4.9bn
employer cost of absence caused by psychosocial workload in the Netherlands in 2023
Source: TNO, Factsheet Werkstress 2025, 2023 and 2024.
39%
of EU establishments with 20+ staff have a work stress action plan (33% in 2019)
Source: EU-OSHA, ESENER 2024 first findings, 2024.
12.8%
of Japanese workplaces had a worker take a month or more off, or quit, over mental health in a year
Source: Japan MHLW, Industrial Safety and Health Survey (establishments), Nov 2023 to Oct 2024.
More EOR reviews: RemoFirst, Papaya Global and Pebl. Comparisons: Deel vs Remote, Remote vs Multiplier, Multiplier vs Oyster HR and Deel vs Rippling. All products in the HR Stacks directory.
Hiring abroad means hiring under local stress and disconnect rules.
Compare Employer of Record providers on price per employee and country coverage.
12 · Software
The software stack behind lower stress at work
Stress shows up first in data most HR teams already hold: overtime, absence, survey scores and turnover. These are the categories that surface it.
Reviews of suites teams use for this: Rippling, BambooHR, HiBob, Paylocity, Paychex, OnPay and ADP. Head to head: Rippling vs BambooHR and BambooHR vs Workday.
13 · Outlook
Stress is moving from a wellbeing topic to a legal duty
Regulators are writing psychosocial risk into law. Brazil’s duty started in May 2026, Japan widens its stress checks in 2028, and the EU is preparing rules on disconnecting.
Global burden
1.37%
of global GDP is lost to psychosocial risks at work, alongside more than 840,000 deaths and nearly 45 million healthy life years a year.
Source: ILO, The psychosocial working environment: global developments and pathways for action, published Apr 2026.
2028
Japan extends mandatory stress checks to all workplaces, including those under 50 staff, from 1 April 2028.
Source: HR Stacks Work Stress Law Tracker, 18 October 2026.
HR 1.14
Workers in high-strain jobs had a 14% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease over a median of 23 years.
Source: Giusti et al., Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health (2026), published Sep 2026.
Methodology
How we built this report
Primary sources only
Every figure comes from the publisher: statistics offices, regulators, the WHO and ILO, peer-reviewed journals and named survey panels. No vendor blogs or roundup sites.
Latest edition
We used the newest edition of each source and show the period the data covers. Older studies appear only when they are landmark work, and are labelled.
Our law tracker
For 50 countries we read the legislation or regulator guidance and scored three questions as Yes, Partial or No. Only rules in force on 18 October 2026 count.
No ranking across definitions
National statistics measure stress differently. We show them side by side and never rank them against each other.
Update log
| Figure | Previous | Now | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| WHO: working-age adults with a mental disorder | 15% (2019) | 16% (2023) | WHO |
| Gallup: low engagement cost year | 2025 | 2024 | Gallup |
| HSE: days lost per case | about 23 | 22.9 | HSE |
| Gallup: country stress figures | single year 2025 | three-year average to 2025 | Gallup country-level data pages (SOGW 2026) |
| Mind Share: intent to stay with support | 3x | 2x (3x applies to trust and no anxiety) | Mind Share Partners |
| Mind Share: mental health challenge | "in the past year" | wording removed, not in report | Mind Share Partners |
| Gallup, APA, WHO: secondary citations | news and vendor sites | publisher pages | Gallup |
All sources (35)
FAQ
Workplace stress questions, answered with the latest data
What percentage of employees are stressed at work?
40% of employees worldwide experienced stress a lot of the previous day in 2025, according to Gallup. In the US, 48% of workers say they typically feel tense or stressed during the workday (APA, 2026). In the EU, 29% of workers had stress, depression or anxiety caused or made worse by work in the last year (EU-OSHA, 2025).
Which region has the highest workplace stress?
The US and Canada had the highest daily stress of any region in 2025 at 50%, followed by Australia and New Zealand at 49% and the Middle East and North Africa at 48%. Post-Soviet Eurasia was lowest at 21%, against a global average of 40% (Gallup).
What are the main causes of workplace stress?
Workload and time pressure lead in every country that asks. 44% of EU workers face severe time pressure or overload, and 43.2% of Japanese workers with strong work stress name the amount of work. In the US, job insecurity is rising: 32% of workers fear losing their job within weeks or months, up from 26% (APA, 2026).
How many workers in the UK suffer from work-related stress?
964,000 workers in Great Britain had work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, up from 776,000 the year before. It caused 52% of work-related ill health and 22.1 million lost working days, 22.9 days per case (HSE).
Do managers have more stress than employees?
Yes. 45% of managers reported daily stress in 2025 against 39% of individual contributors, and manager engagement fell from 27% to 22% in one year, the largest drop Gallup has recorded.
How much does workplace stress cost employers?
Depression and anxiety cost the global economy about US$1 trillion a year in lost productivity (WHO). A 2025 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine models burnout at $3,999 a year per hourly employee and $20,683 per executive, about $5.04 million a year for a 1,000-person company.
Which countries have a right to disconnect?
HR Stacks found 7 of 50 countries with a statutory right for all workers: Colombia, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Australia and Luxembourg. 10 more, including Mexico, Chile, Italy and Ireland, limit it to teleworkers or use a code of practice. The US, UK and India have none.
Are employers legally required to manage workplace stress?
In 19 of the 50 countries HR Stacks tracked, binding law requires employers to assess and control psychosocial risks, including Germany, France, Japan, Mexico, Australia and Brazil. 18 more have a general risk-assessment duty that regulators read to include stress. If you hire abroad, an Employer of Record handles local employment law, but the duty still shapes how work is managed.
Is AI increasing stress at work?
Worry is rising. 48% of US workers fear AI could make some or all of their duties obsolete, a record (APA, 2026). Gallup finds 23% of US employees at organisations using AI expect their job to be eliminated within five years, against 18% of all employees.
Which jobs have the highest stress?
Public administration, health and social work, and education have the highest rates of work-related stress in Great Britain (HSE). In the US, 55% of teachers report frequent job stress (RAND, 2026), and emergency physicians report 49.8% burnout against 41.9% for all physicians (AMA, 2025).