As Workers Deal With The Aftermath Of The Pandemic, Mental Health Issues Persist.

Many companies are cutting back on mental health initiatives just as employees need and desire them the most.

Despite the fact that the pandemic is subsiding, the mental-health toll on workers – as well as the financial toll on businesses – remains high.

According to Headspace Health’s newest global Workforce Attitudes Toward Mental Health research, one-third of employees believe their jobs affect their mental health. Furthermore, over half of CEOs and 43% of employees missed a full week of work in the previous year due to stress, anxiety, or other mental health issues.

“Employee mental health is a business-continuity issue that every leader must address,” said Russell Glass, CEO of Headspace Health. “Especially as many employees return to the office and confront new day-to-day challenges,” he said.

Among the results of the report:

• Stress, burnout, and mental health issues account for 83 percent of CEOs and 70 percent of employees missing at least one day of work. Only 28% of employees say they are “extremely engaged” in their jobs.
• COVID-19, burnout due to increased workload or a shortage of staff, poor work-life balance, and inadequate management and leadership are the top global stressors for employees.
• Women (40%) are more likely than men (33%) or non-binary employees to be burned out at work (34 percent ).
• Non-binary employees experience more workplace stress than their male and female peers.

Many firms, on the other hand, are cutting back on mental health services just when employees need and desire them the most:

• Only 67 percent of employees agree with CEOs that they do enough to assist employee mental health.
• Seven out of ten employees say their firm put more emphasis on mental health after COVID-19, but only 25% believe it has maintained that attention in the last year.
• More than half of employees worldwide have used a technology-based mental-health service, with blue-collar workers and CEOs reporting the highest rates of use.
• Employees in the United States have increased their use of digital mental-health products since 2020.

Organizational leaders feel they need help harmonizing their own emotional and functional capabilities with that of their teams:

• More than nine out of ten executives seek mental-health help at least once a year.
• Sixty percent of CEOs, compared to 37 percent of employees, use their company’s mental health benefits on a regular basis.
• Poor leadership and management is a top stressor for one out of every four employees, with employees in the United States reporting an increase in this stressor between 2021 and 2020.
• More than 80% of employees believe it is the employer’s obligation to assist with mental health, and 82% want their bosses to inquire how they are doing and care about the answer.

Source: https://www.benefitspro.com/2022/04/29/mental-health-challenges-continue-as-workers-grapple-with-fallout-from-pandemic/