Czech employees rank among the most likely in the EU to feel time pressure at work

 Czechs lead the European Union in people saying they often worked under time pressure, according to figures from the EU statistical arm Eurostat. When combined with people who always felt under time pressure, Czechs were in second place behind Greece.

In 2019, roughly one in 10 persons employed in the EU always worked under time pressure, at 10.6%, and nearly one in four often did, at 24.2%. In contrast, roughly two in five people said they sometimes and just over one in five never worked under time pressure.

The Czech Republic had 38.7% of people between 15 and 74 saying they often worked under time pressure, the highest for that category in the EU. Added to to 7.5% who said they always felt time pressure, that comes to 46.2%.

Those in the Czech workforce who sometimes felt time pressure accounted for 44.5%, while those who never felt pressure came in at 9.7%.

For the combined figure of always and often working under time pressure, only Greece was higher, at 47.9%. Malta came in at 46.0% and Germany at 42.0%. The United Kingdom, which is no longer part of the EU, was at 52.3%.

There was also a divide by gender, with 48.0% of men in the Czech workforce always of often feeling time pressure, while only 42.7% of women did.

The gap was smaller across the entire EU. Some 35.3% of men always or often felt time pressure, while 34.1% of women did.

Education is also a factor. Of Czech employees with less than a secondary school education, 41.7% Czech employees felt time pressure. That rose to 44.6% for people with a secondary education and 49.5% for those with tertiary education.

Malta registered the highest share of employed persons who always worked under time pressure, with 20.9% in 2019. In contrast, this share was lowest in Slovakia, with 4.3%.

While Czechs led in often feeling time pressure, Spain was at the lowest end with 14.9%.

For combined always and often feeling pressure, Estonia was the lowest at 24.0%, followed by Spain at 24.3%.

The highest rate of employed persons who never experienced time pressure at work was observed in Spain, with 37.3%. In comparison, only 7.6% of employed persons in Finland felt that way.

The EU survey helps to confirm a previous study by recruitment solutions company Předvýběr.CZ, released in 2018, that showed that over 70% of employees in the Czech Republic were dealing with some level of stress at work. On the other hand, another recent EU survey showed that Czech employers were among the most respectful of employees’ time outside of work. They were contacted far below the EU average during their leisure time.