Sweden: home to the world’s most chilled out businesses

A new survey from the US consultancy organisation Grant Thornton has revealed that Swedish business leaders experience the world’s lowest stress levels.

A mere 23 percent of the Scandinavian country’s business heads declared themselves to be under more stress in November 2009 than in the previous year. In contrast, 76 percent of bosses in mainland China said they were under greater pressure.

The survey, conducted last year, canvassed 7,400 privately-owned enterprises across 36 countries. The Chinese topped the table ahead of Mexico (74 percent), Turkey (72 percent), Vietnam (72 percent) and Greece (68 percent), although recent economic problems in the latter have no doubt increased stress rates there since. The report also found that GDP growth was related to tension levels, with developing countries reporting increased anxiety.

Mellow Nordics Denmark (25 percent) and Finland (33 percent) enjoyed lower stress levels, along with Australia (35 percent) and Canada (35 percent), all coming in well below the global average of 56 percent, reports The Local.
The survey also explored the main reasons for worry in the workplace, with the economic climate understandably topping the list with 38 percent of responses. Cash flow pressure (26 percent), competitor activity (21 percent) and heavy workload (19 percent) were the other major factors.

A lack of time off was also found to cause higher anxiety levels, with northern Europeans taking the largest number of holidays (22 – 24 days) per annum, as opposed to just seven days-a -year on average in third-placed Vietnam.