‘Pressure cooker’: Workforce faces ‘daily anxiety’ over cuts to jobs

Trade unions complained that the regular job cuts at Aberdeen City Council have led to “very low morale” among staff.

In recent years they have suggested this could also have been linked to an increase in the number of people with mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety.

At one point, a member of the local authority’s communication staff took to social media to criticise her changing workplace.

She said: “Like loads of people I work at the city council and I’m told on a daily basis that I might be up for redundancy, might not be up for redundancy.”

In 2018, union leaders likened the working environment at the local authority to a “pressure cooker”.

Fears were raised that job cuts would mean fewer staff completing the same volume of work as larger teams – effectively “picking up the slack” of those made redundant.

Another said they would have been “very surprised” if there was not a link between staff morale and incidences of mental health absences at the council.

The local authority has put in place a number of initiatives to help struggling employees, including training mental health first aiders.

Aberdeen City Council says it has been forced to make the job cuts as a result of the pressure on its purse strings.

In 2017, it approved a massive restructuring project – with hefty cuts looming on the horizon.

The local authority warned it was facing cuts and savings of £125 million over five years but vowed to avoid compulsory redundancies.