Designed for use in a business context, Business Chemistry® draws upon analytical technologies to reveal four scientifically unique patterns of behaviour. The system provides insights about individuals and teams with the goal of developing openness and collaboration to drive performance.
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Work-related stress. It may be one of the most talked about workplace topics of our time. Enter “workplace stress” into a search engine and you’ll find thousands and thousands of articles outlining what’s stressful, why it’s stressful, how to cope, and the consequences if you don’t. Increasingly, work-related stress is acknowledged as an engagement-sapper, a productivity-stealer, and a dangerous health risk. But is everyone really that stressed out all the time? Do some people experience the workplace as more stressful than others? What strategies do people most often use to cope? In the past year, Deloitte’s Greenhouse Experience® team has embarked on a large-scale stress study of professionals to find out.
Through an online survey we asked people a series of questions about their work-related stress levels, how stressful they find various workplace events and circumstances to be, how effective they are under stress, and how often they use a variety of coping strategies. In addition to answering questions about work-related stress, all respondents completed the Deloitte Business Chemistry® assessment, enabling us to compare their responses to the stress questions with their Business Chemistry type. We found statistically significant differences between Business Chemistry types in several areas. But, before we get to that, let's review our stress research findings.
More than 23,000 people were asked how often they experience work-related stress. Of these respondents to our stress study, the majority said they’re stressed only rarely (15%) to sometimes (57%). We found this a bit surprising, given the centrality of stress in conversations about the perceived ills of today’s workplace. Overall, 25% said they’re stressed often, and just 3%, almost always.
Most respondents, regardless of their Business Chemistry type, agree that errors in the workplace are the greatest cause of stress. Every Business Chemistry type has a unique reaction when exposed to stress. How stressed someone feels, what kinds of events are stressful, and how they prefer to cope all vary by Business Chemistry type. Understanding and appreciating these differences can be essential when working together. Particularly if you're a leader, recognizing differences can help you strengthen bonds and work towards solutions. In terms of the situations people found stressful, realizing one had made an error was at the top of the list, causing work-related stress for 82% of respondents. Apparently, most didn’t feel it was OK to make a mistake.
Continue to read this study methodology here.
One of our studies of more than 8,000 professionals from hundreds of different organizations suggests that most people want a mix of working virtually and in person; just over 10% say they want to work almost exclusively virtually, and just under 10% almost exclusively in person. The rest are in the middle, with 22% saying they prefer a bit more in-person time, 23% a bit more virtual time, and 35% half and half.1
What’s more interesting, although perhaps not surprising, is that introverts (that’s Guardians, Dreamers, and Scientists) prefer working virtually more than in person, and more than extroverts do, while extroverts (that’s Pioneers, Commanders, and Teamers) prefer working in person slightly more than virtually, and more than introverts do.
While we might have expected that, the predictability of the pattern doesn’t make the implications of it any less impactful. If people are given a choice about how often to appear at an office in person, these results could mean that extroverts will spend more time in the office and attending meetings and events in person than introverts will. And that matters because introverts already tend to experience more challenges than extroverts when it comes to contributing in group settings. One study we conducted with more than 11,000 professionals prior to the COVID-19 pandemic suggests introverts tend to feel less psychological safety than extroverts.
Another study we conducted, based on a sample of more than 14,000 professionals, suggests that introverts, more than extroverts, feel discouraged from contributing in a group setting when:
Read more on our blog on Making Hybrid Work for everyone Hybrid blog.
Guardians and integrators are most likely to experience stress. These types also report that they are less productive when they are stressed. Less than a quarter of Pioneers and Drivers report these levels of stress. These types actually report that stress makes them more productive.
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