SAN DIEGO – An annual Navy survey of sailors shows that, while the service is making progress on improving its culture, stress for the rank and file is continuing to grow.
The data, released Thursday, shows that more than one-third of sailors surveyed reported feeling severe or extreme levels of stress in 2023. The problem appears to be getting only worse. In 2019, only 26% of sailors surveyed had the same stress levels.
In a statement released alongside the report, the Navy acknowledged that “sailor well-being continues to be an area of concern” and that the overall satisfaction with the work-life balance sailors experience in general “continues to be suboptimal.”
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A Navy official told Military.com that “senior Navy leaders are encouraged by a lot of the results from the 2023 Health of the Force Survey, such as improved morale, trust, culture and protective factors, but remain cognizant that there is still work to do in providing sailors the tools needed to better manage stress and burnout.”
The official added that “initiatives in 2024 will help to directly address these issues.”
Navy leaders have begun to talk more frequently and openly about the need to improve sailors' quality of life in the past several months.
The survey, which began in 2019, randomly taps thousands of sailors across the fleet and in various ranks to…
