Specific stress factors
In addition to weekly overtime as a possible stress factor, the questionnaire also asked about specific stressors. Stress factors are quite high and thus give cause for concern (Figure 48). Almost two-thirds of respondents state that they regularly, i.e. “often” (28.3%), “very often” (25.4%) or even “always” (10.7%), work under time pressure. Almost as many (57.1%) feel that they regularly fall behind with their work. A good half regularly feel frustrated at work due to poor conditions. A good 50% state that they “often” (23.1%), “very often” (20.9%) or even “always” (7.8%) feel physically or emotionally exhausted by work. These percentages clearly indicate a risk of burnout. However, not all respondents seem to be immediately aware of this, because only 26.9% see a health risk from their work situation, which is nevertheless an alarmingly high figure.
39.6% also state that they often, very often or always have to make sacrifices in their private lives due to work. Interdependencies in their work are a burden for around a quarter: 28.5% of respondents are regularly unable to complete their own work due to a lack of input from others. An equal number (28.5%) report that they regularly have to compromise on the quality of their own work (see Figure 48). The question of compromised quality is particularly relevant to the topic of research quality and is therefore addressed again in Chapter 6.
When the results are broken down by status group, it is striking that professors experience particularly high levels of stress in two areas (see Figure 49): 80.1% report that they are “often”, “very often” or “always” under time pressure at work, while 68.8% “often”, “very often” or “always” have work to catch up on. The other aspects of stress also occur more frequently among professors than among postdocs and predocs. Interestingly, however, the picture is reversed when it comes to the question of exhaustion caused by work. Here, predocs are the most likely to report exhaustion (56%), and professors - the least likely (43.2%) (see Figure 49). This circumstance may be explained by the lack of security among predocs in terms of career development. Professors, on the other hand, are the most likely to know what they are putting up with the stress for, while predocs cannot be sure whether the stress will pay off at some point.
In the gender comparison, women consistently report higher levels of stress than their male colleagues (see Figure 50). The only question on which no differences were found was whether respondents felt they were constantly behind with their work; here, 57% of both men and women said that this was regularly the case. The highest stress levels were reported by gender diverse individuals. In particular, the stress levels relating to one's own health are particularly high here, while the stress factors relating to the quality of work do not differ greatly from the other gender groups.
The comparison by subject group shows only slight differences (see Figure 51): life scientists, for example, are in some respects more stressed than other researchers: they are somewhat more often under time pressure (69.1%), more often behind on their work (60.6%) and also more often feel exhausted by their work (53.1%) than scientists in other subject groups. In contrast, humanities scholars are particularly likely to see their health as being at risk (32.4%) and perceive their private lives as being affected by their work (45.7%). Social scientists (34.5%) are the most likely to have to make quality compromises, while engineering scientists are the most likely to feel frustrated by the working environment (54.8%).
Interesting differences in the stresses can also be seen for the different work cultures (see Figure 52). It is quite clear that cooperative work cultures have a positive effect and somewhat mitigate stressors and significantly minimise health consequences in some cases: For example, only 21.4% of those in work cultures with a high level of cooperation and low competition stated that they were unable to complete their work due to a lack of input from others. In work cultures with high cooperation and strong competition, the figure is 26.5%. In work cultures with low cooperation, the percentages are significantly higher at 41.1% (low competition) and 45.9% (high competition). The frequency with which people in cooperative environments have to compromise on quality is also significantly lower, at 23.3% (low competition) and 28.4% (high competition). By comparison, in uncooperative work cultures, 36.1% (low competition) and 42.4% (high competition) of respondents regularly have to compromise on quality. Respondents from low-cooperation environments also report impairments of their private lives far more frequently: 54.1% of people from work cultures with low cooperation and weak competition state this, and as many as 60.2% from work cultures with low cooperation and strong competition. By comparison, the percentages for work cultures with high cooperation and low competition are comparatively low at 30.9 The percentages for work cultures with high cooperation and strong competition are also higher at 38.5 %, but also significantly lower than those for work contexts with a low level of cooperation. Similarly, over 20% more respondents from low-cooperation environments report that they consider their health to be at risk from work and that they feel emotionally or physically exhausted from work.
Time pressure and the feeling of being behind with work is in turn mainly intensified in work contexts with competitive elements, or conversely: work cultures with weak competition have a stress-reducing effect here. In contexts with low competition, 59.6% (with high cooperation at the same time) and 61.7% (with low cooperation at the same time) state that they have to work under time pressure. This is a very high figure and should be a cause for concern. However, it is still low compared to work cultures with strong competition, where 70.8% (with high cooperation) and as many as 77.8% (with low cooperation) have to work under time pressure.
Overall, a cooperative work environment that is free of competition thus promotes the quality of research and the health of scientists.
