A survey undertaken by recruitment website Irishjobs.ie has found that 75 per cent of respondents believe there is a stigma attached to work-related stress.
According to the results of the survey, 41 per cent of stressed workers cite office politics as the main cause of their stress.
Sixty per cent have approached their boss complaining of stress. When asked what their boss's reaction was, over a third (36 per cent) said their boss was dismissive and 2.5 per cent reported that they were demoted as a direct result.
Only 11 per cent of respondents said their boss was understanding when they complained of stress; 9 per cent were receptive and wanted to help.
The causes of work related stress range from office politics (41 per cent) to working longer hours (18 per cent), traffic (9 per cent) and difficult colleagues (17 per cent).
Technology and not being able to switch off from work accounted for 8 per cent.
"Work related stress has become a serious issue for Irish workers with many admitting that there is a perception in the workplace that employees are simply 'not up to the job' if they complain of being stressed," Ms Maria Mahon, chief executive of Irishjobs.ie, said.
Irishjobs.ie highlights its survey results in the same week as the publication of an ESRI study, which revealed that half of the Irish workforce is stressed.
Out of a list of job categories, IT was identified as the job most likely to cause stress for employees: 35 per cent of respondents who said they were stressed worked in the IT sector.
The next most stressful sectors were sales, with 14 per cent and accounting with 12 per cent of respondents. Banking and Financial services as well as Secretarial and Administration were also high on the stress factor, as was the Customer Service sector with 9.5 per cent.
The least stressed workers can be found in the Legal profession, Construction and Retail sectors.