Numerous sleep and job characteristics can significantly affect a person's health and daily functioning. Previous studies suggest that they are also related to the amount of perceived stress during the day. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between certain sleep and job characteristics and stress in helping professions. A total of 172 workers from Zagreb (43% male, average age of 43) completed a questionnaire with common questions about sleep and job characteristics, as well as the Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale. Gender differences in the level of perceived stress were found, as well as differences between different groups of helper occupations. It has been shown that women on average experience higher levels of stress than men, while psychotherapists experience lower levels of stress compared to doctors and dentists. Doctors had the longest working hours, the shortest duration of sleep during the working day and the longest duration of additional sleep, plus the largest delay in sleep timing on weekend. Psychotherapists had the longest duration of sleep during the working day and the longest work experience, while dentists had the largest number of shift workers. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that a combination of gender, sleep characteristics and job characteristics could explain 31% of stress variance (p <.01). It also showed that gender, work experience, subjective sleep quality, sedative consumption and delay in sleep timing on weekend were significant predictors of stress level in helper occupations. Subjective sleep quality was also the only significant stress level predictor in both male and female participants. The significant predictors of stress in men were the delay in sleep timing on weekend, sedative consumption and total working hours. Significant predictors in women were sleep duration and work experience. Considering the findings of this research, several interventions were proposed to improve the sleep quality and mental health of workers in helping professions.