A new study conducted by Furniture Production has highlighted a concerning trend: as many as 90% of UK carpenters experience mental health challenges due to work-related pressures. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of all tradespeople suffer from mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, or depression every month, while one in eight (13%) report experiencing these symptoms on a daily basis.
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Financial concerns remain the leading cause of stress, with over a third (34%) of tradespeople identifying money worries as a significant burden. Customer tensions follow closely behind, cited by 24% as the second most pressing issue. These top stressors have remained consistent over the past year.
A key shift from 2021, however, is the rise in customer abuse, with nearly a fifth (18%) of tradespeople reporting struggles with insults or threats—more than triple the figure from the previous study (6%).
The ten most common sources of stress for tradespeople are finances (34%), tensions with customers (24%), high workload (23%), tensions with business partners (21%), and tensions with suppliers (20%). Job security (19%), making mistakes at work (19%), customer abuse (18%), the risk of catching Covid-19 (18%), and striving to meet high customer expectations (15%) complete the list.
Despite ongoing efforts to promote mental health awareness, over four in five tradespeople (85%) remain uncomfortable talking about their feelings. Just one in six (16%) have discussed their mental health with friends or family—a significant decrease from the previous year (42%).
Additionally, one in six (16%) worry about how their colleagues might perceive them if they shared their struggles, while over a quarter (28%) feel they cannot take time off work for mental health reasons.
Plumbers are the most likely tradespeople to experience stress or anxiety on a daily basis (27%), but mental health issues are most prevalent among plasterers, with over 90% reporting such challenges at least once a year.
The trades most likely to suffer from mental health problems are plasterers (92%), followed by carpenters (90%), builders (89%), joiners (89%), and bricklayers (87%). On the other hand, painters & decorators (68%) and landscapers (75%) report lower rates of mental health issues.
As part of efforts to raise awareness of mental health within the trades, IronmongeryDirect has partnered with Basildon Mind, a mental health charity, and donated over £3,000 to support its vital services.
Source: www.fixradio.co.uk