Office Rage

Forget about "going postal" the real workplace rage is in the office. A British employment agency has discovered that office workers are seething with pent up anger.

More than half of all office staff in the UK say they have become so angry at work they have nearly punched a colleague.

Some 53% of workers have been brought to the brink of violence by "office rage", with loud-mouthed colleagues cited as the main cause.

Malfunctioning computers, excessive workloads and interruptions during telephone conversations were also found to make employees' blood boil.

The research, carried out by recruitment firm Pertemps, found that women were the most likely to nearly resort to violence while their male colleagues were more inclined to shout.

Pertemps chairman Tim Watts said: "The latest annual British Crime Survey reveals 1.3 million incidents of violence at work, involving 604,000 workers.

Regular consultation between employers and employees to identify potential areas of conflict is vital to prevent workers being pushed over the edge, he added.

The study, based on research among 450 office workers across Britain, found that 64% of those surveyed get angry at colleagues shouting across the office and talking over people at meetings.

IT problems caused 53% to lose their temper, followed by excessive workloads (51%) and interruptions while on the phone (37%).

Some 60% lost their temper regularly at work but although men shouted more than women (67% compared with 46%), women had the strongest desire to hit people who had upset them (51% compared with 39%).

Asked how they coped with anger, nearly a third of respondents (31%) said they ignored the person responsible.

Twenty per cent, the majority of whom were women, made a cup of tea, while 15% cursed under their breath.

Eight per cent admitted to hitting their malfunctioning computer.

The survey found that productivity is affected when staff are in a bad mood with 74% saying they did not work as well while angry.

Fifteen per cent said they worked slower when their boss was angry for fear of making a mistake.

Anger was said to have a detrimental effect on morale by 81% of respondents while 47% said longer hours, more responsibility and tighter deadlines had led to more cases of office rage in the last couple of years.

by John Bulloch, 365Gay.com Health