Last updated: 17 Apr 2025 09:00 Posted in: AIA
Learn how employee stress affects your business risk, drawing on research from Walking on Earth.
New research from Walking on Earth (WONE) has revealed that 45% of employees in UK and US professional services and technology industries are experiencing high stress, and as a result companies are losing significant amounts in preventable costs.
Stress isn’t inherently harmful, of course, and can act as a catalyst for growth. But when stress is too intense it isn’t just a wellbeing issue – it’s a financial risk multiplier, accelerating costs and leaving businesses exposed. When we view a situation with a positive mindset – as if it were a challenge rather than a threat – our psychological and physiological responses are healthier. Our ability to adopt this mindset depends on whether we see our resources as sufficient to meet demands and how we anticipate the consequences of failure.
WONE’s new whitepaper, ‘Risky business – the hidden cost of stress’, draws on data from 1,005 full-time employees in US and UK technology and professional services industries. As a sub-section of the entire workforce, these sectors are typically high-pay and high-intensity environments. Participants completed the WONE Index, a scientifically validated measure of stress, and reported on 17 business risks.
WONE also conducted interviews with business leaders, stress researchers and risk experts. The research provides insights and tangible recommendations that will serve as a blueprint for real and lasting change.
As Reeva Misra Founder and CEO of WONE, explains: ‘This paper gives you clear recommendations to improve employee health, reduce risk and see your business thrive. Now is the time to act – because the cost of inaction is a risk no organisation can afford to take.’
Key findings
Workplace stress: Stress is a physiological response that humans have evolved as a way to respond effectively in times of danger. In our modern lives, this stress response is on overdrive which over time leads to chronic health conditions. Workplaces are a significant driver of stress in the modern world and the research here suggests a staggering 45% of the workforce is highly stressed, experiencing stress frequently or always.
The impact of stress: Our research dives into how stress impacts different areas of risk. High-stress employees take eight times as many sick days from stress, and make 2.5 times more health claims than low stress employees. With stress creeping up on individuals over a period of time, it’s critical that businesses act before stress becomes chronic and manifests in irreversible ways.
The costs of stress: The repercussions on a business are significant. Our research shows that stress is a measurable business risk, with high-stress costing a 1,000 person organisation an extra $5.3 million annually. Stress acts as a powerful multiplier on many existing issues. Yet, despite these shocking figures, preventive stress management rarely features in a risk mitigation plan.
Stress solutions: Whilst the problem of stress at work is large and complex, the solution doesn’t need to be. Walking on Earth (WONE) has developed a unique methodology called the WONE Method that blends the latest advances in AI technology and the neuroscience of micro-moments of recovery, to help employees regulate their stress. It results in 74% of individuals reporting a reduction in stress and 90% reporting an increase in productivity.
Achieving full potential: Businesses must adopt innovative, data-driven solutions to mitigate employee stress. These solutions are not optional perks – they represent a significant financial opportunity to reduce costs. The portion of the workforce that is currently unproductive would now be able to realise their full potential. The powerful multiplier of stress now acts in our favour, fuelling employee performance and reaching potential.
The impact of stress
Stress contributes to eight of the top ten most prevalent and costly chronic diseases – obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, asthma, chronic kidney disease, diabetes and depression.
It can also play a significant role in an array of behaviour and emotional problems. Chronic stress can lead people to experience impulsivity, poor judgment and difficulty adapting to new situations or challenges. It can impair our ability to process and remember new information, and has been associated with cognitive decline and depression. Meanwhile, stress-related fatigue makes it harder to pursue goals and adopt or maintain healthy habits like exercise, nutrition and sleep.
The downstream effects of stress at work, such as absenteeism, diminished productivity and mistakes, are estimated to cost businesses $300 billion a year in the US alone. When you think about it, it’s intuitive. As stress rises, chronic disease incidence rises, and so too does the number of health care claims, sick leave and eventual turnover from burnout, disengagement or chronic illness. Since 2000, health premiums have risen at four times the rate of inflation.
Stress is a central driver of workplace challenges and a measurable business risk with financial and operational consequences. To help businesses understand the scope of this challenge, we have identified five key categories of risk that are significantly impacted by stress:
To see our assessment of the number of employees experiencing moderate and high stress in these areas, see Proportion of workforce by business risk category. We consider each of these areas in depth in our whitepaper ‘Risky business – the hidden cost of stress’.
The true costs
High-stress employees are 3.6 times more likely to consider leaving than low-stress employees. Studies show that about one in three employees who consider leaving will actually leave within a year. For a 1,000 person company where 45% of employees experience high stress, this equates to 71 employees leaving annually due to stress. Our research also shows that high-stress employees take significantly more sick days – seven per year on average, compared to one day for low-stress employees.
However, the problems do not stop with absenteeism. Presenteeism, where employees are physically present but not fully productive due to stress, illness or other factors, represents a hidden yet substantial financial risk. If an employee struggles to focus at work, their productivity lowers, their tasks take longer and they begin missing deadlines.
How to reduce stress
A systemic approach to reducing stress requires re-examining policies, leadership behaviours, and operational structures that may inadvertently create stress. Looking ahead, organisations will face growing pressure to act. As governments confront rising mental health challenges and health care costs, regulatory scrutiny will likely intensify, placing greater responsibility on businesses to proactively assess and mitigate psychosocial risks.
Other approaches include:
We examine all these approaches in detail in our whitepaper.
In summary
When organisations invest in employee well-being, business performance improves. A recent study led by Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Oxford economics professor, found a ‘strong positive relationship between employee wellbeing and the firm’s performance’. His research simulated a portfolio of the top 100 publicly listed US companies ranked highest for employee wellbeing, which outperformed the S&P 500 by 11% since January 2021. De Neve concluded that ‘higher levels of wellbeing generally predict higher firm valuations, higher return on assets, higher gross profits and better stock market performance’.
Long-term solutions must be preventive, as supporting healthier, longer working lives benefits both employees and the broader economy. Investing in workforce wellbeing sustains productivity, reduces long-term costs, and ensures resilience in our labour market.
WONE’s 2025 research paper, ‘Risky Business: The Hidden Cost of Stress’, reveals the true cost of workplace stress and introduces a first-of-its kind framework to help you measure and mitigate it – before it compounds into a business-wide crisis.
Author bio
Marion Chomse is VP of Marketing at leading preventative health platform Walking on Earth (WONE).
Download The White Paper For Free