The number of job-related burn-outs in the Netherlands is rising sharply and job insecurity is a major cause, the Volkskrant said on Wednesday.

The paper said 15% of Dutch women suffered work-related stress this year, up from 9.4% two years ago. The number of men affected by burn-out increased from 6% to 9% in the same period, the paper said.

The figures come from a new report compiled by Nyenrode University and the digital periodical Intermediar and involving some 72,000 people.

Temporary

Nyenrode researcher Jaap van Muijen said a major cause of the increase in job-related stress is the explosive growth of people working on temporary contracts.

‘Our research indicates that people with a fixed contract suffer less from burn-out at work. The same goes for double income households who can fall back on the earnings of one partner, as well as for the highly skilled. The greater the income insecurity, the greater the risk of burn-out,’ he said.

Part-time jobs

Parallel research by health and safety advisory group ArboNed showed that 58% of workers suffering from stress were part-timers but only 45% of employees had part-time jobs.

ArboNed’s Catelijne Joling confirmed that part-timers were more susceptible to stress than full-time employees. In particular four day a week jobs involve people being expected to do too much, she told the Financieele Dagblad.

‘Three or five days a week is better,’ she told the paper. ArboNed’s research involved absenteeism rates at 60,000 small and medium-sized firms.