Work and health

In 2000, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs published a study on the subject of stress, which revealed that just over a quarter of Swiss employees often or very often felt stressed. The situation has hardly improved since then, as the most recent European survey on working conditions provides worrying figures: In Switzerland, the proportion of employees who suffer from deadline pressure on the one hand and find the pace of work often or always high on the other is 51.6 and 58.5 % respectively. In terms of health, no fewer than 54.9 % of employees experience muscle pain in the upper limbs and neck; 47.5 % also complain of headaches and eye pain and 45.8 % of back pain. In addition, 20.611 % are often or always physically exhausted at the end of their working day, 4 % are often or always emotionally exhausted, and 9.2 % experience both. 23.2 % also state that their work endangers their health or safety. In the area of health, these results are generally just slightly below the European average, but factors such as access to medical care, including paramedical care, economic stability and the good employment situation are likely to have a positive influence on the Swiss results. It is rather disappointing that a rich country like Switzerland is not in a better position when it comes to the health of wage earners. This makes it all the more important to prevent a deterioration in working conditions and structural framework conditions so that the situation does not get any worse. The federal elections this fall will be particularly decisive, especially as far as the Council of States is concerned. Not only are certain political forces not interested in improving the current labor law, but on the contrary, their representatives are striving for a gradual reduction despite the flexibility of the current law, although a clear distinction between working time and rest time is essential for the physical and mental well-being of employees.