More than half of UK workers are making mistakes at work because of stress, underlining the scale of pressure being felt across workplaces and the risks it poses to wellbeing, performance and safety.
New figures show that 52.6 percent of workers have made errors at work due to stress, while one in four has called in sick at least once because they felt overwhelmed. It points to stress not only as a personal health issue but also as a growing organisational risk affecting productivity, collaboration and absence.
The data sits alongside the latest official figures on work-related mental ill health. The Health and Safety Executive reported that 964,000 workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety in the most recent year, reinforcing concerns that pressure at work remains widespread and persistent.
Further findings show that stress is also disrupting day-to-day working relationships. More than one in four workers, 28.5 percent, said stress had caused them to miss deadlines, while almost a third, 32.9 percent, reported clashing with someone at work because of stress. Together, the figures suggest a pattern of strain that is affecting both individual performance and team dynamics.
Stress Hitting Productivity and Working Relationships
The research was carried out as part of the Workplace Silent Stress Survey 2025, which questioned 553 people across the UK workforce about how stress affects their work and who they speak to when they are struggling.
The results indicate that stress is not only leading to errors and absence, but is also quietly eroding collaboration. Missed deadlines and workplace conflict linked to stress can have knock-on effects for colleagues, managers and customers, particularly in roles where accuracy, communication and judgement are critical.
Occupational health research has long shown that high stress levels are associated with reduced concentration, memory lapses and impaired decision making. When these pressures are sustained, they increase the likelihood of mistakes and raise the risk of longer term burnout, sickness absence and staff turnover.
Despite this, the survey suggests that stress often remains hidden from those with the ability to address it.
Most Workers Not Talking to Managers
One of the most striking findings is how rarely employees speak to their managers about stress. Only 4.7 percent of respondents said they would raise concerns with their manager, and just 1.3 percent said they would speak to someone in a leadership role.
Instead, more than half said they were more likely to confide in friends or family members. While this suggests people are not entirely silent about how they feel, it also means that concerns rarely reach those who can influence workloads, deadlines or working practices.
Astutis, a health and safety training provider that carried out the research, said the findings pointed to a lack of psychological safety in many workplaces. Steve Terry, the company’s managing director, said the results reflected a culture in which employees did not feel able to speak openly about stress. “These numbers portray a widespread workplace culture where employees may feel unsafe to raise stress-related concerns, preferring to suffer in silence,” he said.
From a wellbeing perspective, the gap between experience and communication is significant. When stress remains hidden, problems are more likely to escalate, leading to prolonged strain, disengagement and, in some cases, long term mental health issues.
Why Silence Can Make Stress Worse
Terry said that while turning to friends and family was understandable, it could limit the chances of meaningful change at work. He said support outside the workplace could not address the structural causes of stress. “Although friends and family can offer emotional support, they have no power to implement changes to workloads or processes. It is management that is positioned to address the root causes that often underpin stress,” he said.
This dynamic can leave employees stuck between feeling supported personally but unheard professionally. Over time, that disconnect can damage trust and reinforce the belief that raising concerns at work is risky or pointless.
The findings echo wider evidence that fear of negative consequences, such as being seen as weak or uncommitted, remains a barrier to open conversations about mental health at work. Where stress is normalised but not actively addressed, employees may continue to cope privately until mistakes, absence or burnout force the issue.
What It Means for Employers
Astutis said the results should prompt employers to review their internal processes and workplace culture. The organisation is encouraging leaders to focus on creating environments where people feel able to talk to managers about stress before it leads to errors or illness.
The business case is clear, as stress-related mistakes, missed deadlines and sickness absence carry a financial cost in lost productivity, rework and staff turnover. At the same time, the human cost is reflected in poorer wellbeing, lower morale and reduced engagement.
Clear expectations, realistic workloads, supportive management and visible commitment to wellbeing can help reduce pressure and encourage open dialogue. Training managers to spot early signs of stress and respond constructively is also critical.
As work-related stress continues to affect hundreds of thousands of workers each year, the findings suggest that silence remains one of the biggest obstacles to progress. Without trust and open communication, experts say stress is more likely to surface through mistakes and absence rather than timely conversations, leaving both employees and employers paying the price.