Exclusive survey reveals redundancies have left many overworked
Half of housing staff stressed at work
Half of all housing professionals say they are feeling stressed at work, according to a new survey.
Fifteen per cent of the sector’s workforce rated their work-related stress levels as being ‘extremely high’ in the exclusive survey carried out by Inside Housing and recruitment company The Resourcing Group. A total of 608 UK housing officers, managers and senior executives responded to the research between March and April this year.
Fifty per cent of respondents described their stress levels as ‘extremely high’ or ‘quite high’, in the survey. Just 15 per cent said their stress levels were ‘quite low’ or ‘non-existent’.
The survey also revealed that 44 per cent of officers, managers and executives who responded felt overworked.
Many respondents commented that staffing levels in their organisations had been reduced due to the recession and that this had caused a build-up of stress.
One respondent said an absence of middle managers saw directors place a greater burden on ‘junior officers who don’t have the experience or aren’t being paid enough to handle that level of responsibility’.
Another said: ‘I have worked almost 20 years in housing support - the caseloads have increased each year, the paperwork has increased to a point now where it seems to be the most important thing involved in support work.’
One respondent, who is an agency worker in supported housing, said they had been offered contracts that were three hours journey time each way from their home. When they had questioned this they had been told to ‘give it a go’.
Eleven per cent of respondents also said their stress levels had increased because of bullying at work.
One said their boss ‘forces me to do things like stay late while he goes home, or come in earlier while he stays at home’.
For the full results of the survey see tomorrow’s edition of Inside Housing
View results 10 per page | 20 per page | 50 per page
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Readers' comments (24)
the purple avenger | 06/05/2010 2:35 pm
This is what the media, public and polititians don't seem to have grasped - you need middle managers and back office staff - without them the stress at the front increases. This is why I hate to see polititians saying they will remove mangers in the NHS - you need them. Its the same in housing. The front is important, but it can only opperate efficiently if it has support.
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Simon Stokes | 06/05/2010 2:48 pm
I think there will be big differences between housing organisations. Some work their staff very hard and and beyond, the Council I work in is more like a holiday camp. After most of my working life in the private sector, I cannot believe how relaxed it all is. There are no core hours and staff can pretty much come and go as they please if they are not on duty.
Flexitime is bent beyond all belief and some use it as a way of having an extra 5 weeks away from their desks every year. One housing officer had 55 days leave last year not including bank holidays! Managers dont even know what the workloads are in their teams or where their staff are for that matter. Targets are set, but there are no incentives or consequenses for success or failure so most just dont even bother. They are now pushing home working to try and save money on office space with no monitoring of staff and what they are actually doing.
I wish this were a joke, but you really couldnt make this up. There are 6 managers in the department of 35 staff all earning well over £30k a year and they wonder why we are losing money. I do feel sorry for those who are under real pressure as I have worked that way for a long period of my working life but this really is inbelievable, no wonder the staff turnover is so low!!!!!!
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bill caddick | 06/05/2010 3:46 pm
I just read a report from Reuters that said they have had reports from the slums of Mumbai and Mexico, plus from villages in Iraq, of an outbreak of common grief amongst inhabitants. When asked why this grief was being expressed the people cried out "What planet do you live on? Haven't you heard? 50% of housing professionals in the UK described their stress levels as ‘extremely high’ or ‘quite high. Even senior executives are affected. What is to be done?. To quote Gordon Brown "Get real". We have lost the ability to be honest with people. If as an employee you are experiencing real stress in your job / work - consider other employment - with your employer or some other. Stress is a subjective assessment often caused by a multiple of factors not justwork. If you are in work, paid regularly, can go home, not at risk of loosing your home; etc. etc. etc. enjoy your life and work. If your stressed now I think you may find the next few years a challenge!
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| 06/05/2010 5:08 pm
Totally in agreement with Simon and bill. The cushy numbers that public sector office workers in councils, ALMOs and HA's are a far cry from the rigours of the private sector. They used to be poorly paid but not anymore. Not only is public sector pay equivalent to or higher than private sector pay, public sector office workers have their gold plated final salary pensions (funded by the taxpayer) to look forward to. Thanks to Gordon Brown (FRS17 and the tax grab on pension funds) final salary pensions are a thing of the past in the private sector. A friend of mine has worked for various London councils in a HR function and the level of laziness, complacency and downright incompetence is staggering. A future Tory Government could easily sack half the council officers in the country, replace them with private sector equivalents and get a better job done for half the cost. Public sectors timeservers should be placed on notice; shape up or ship out.
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Annoyed Housing Worker | 06/05/2010 10:41 pm
I most certainly don't agree with Simon and Bill. I'm can't comment on all housing providers, but I work for a Housing Associaiton and work extremely hard. I don't abuse my flexi time - in fact I quite often lose in excess of 5 hours a week. I quite regularly work from home, but as a responsible adult don't need constant supervision from my manager, because if I say I am working from home that's exactly what I am doing.
And in response to ILAG if a future Tory government worked in the same way as Margaret Thatcher did, we wouldn't need to worry about council officers working in housing departments getting the sack, because there won't be any council houses to manage!
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Simon Stokes | 07/05/2010 11:58 am
Annoyed Housing Worker, as you say you cant speak for all providers and there will always be differences, I was just commenting on my own Council Housing dept who wouldnt know hard work or forward planning if it bit them! They wander in when it suits them, have as much coffee and "fag breaks" as they want, chat, text and surf the net unchecked and see their job as somethnig thry fit in around thier busy lives! Managers couldnt manage their way out of a paper bag and are actually scared to tell the staff what to do, because they have let them get away with it for so long they have no idea how to. The staff run the office and their own jobs. Having spent a great deal of time in the finance industry, this dept could be run on about 80% of the satff numbers we currently have so we are cheating the tenants out of money that could be spent on them, instead it is funding lazy staff with nice pay packets and pensions. The Audit Commission never pick it up and the staff they interview are all hand picked and trained in what they can and cant say. To say its a scandal would be an understatement, but as it is all the way to the top, nothing will change. If we were a business in the true sense, we would have gone bust years ago! Most council owned housing is the same and if the Tories change that, it will actually be a good thing as we are supposed to work for the benefit of our tenants, not just for ouselves!!!!
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Stresshead | 07/05/2010 12:01 pm
I need to get a job in a council ASAP!
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| 07/05/2010 3:52 pm
I think it's a bit late for that Stresshead. The timeservers who inhabit local council offices up and down the country are heading for a rocky ride as central government slashes bloated payrolls as austerity measures kick in...
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Annoyed Housing Worker | 08/05/2010 8:59 am
Simon Stokes - Quite clearly you are not happy working in the housing sector, so why not go back to working in the finance industry on 20% less staff, where you won't have to worry about lazy, smoking, time wasting, coffee drinking colleagues!
I recall from one of your previous posts that you were less than complimentary about tenants attending meetings - so not entirely sure where your sudden concern about working for the benefit of our tenants has come from!
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Chris | 10/05/2010 12:11 pm
In the shape of our goosestepping friend ILAG it is sad to see that the politics of hate and jealousy is alive and kicking.
You are talking about people, their livelihoods and futures so please show some restraint on your bigotory!
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