New data has revealed that more than one-third (37%) of employees from Great Britain are suffering from worse mental health now compared to pre-Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic levels.
The YouGov research, commissioned by wellbeing and performance company Push and mental health charity Solent Mind, involved surveying 1,000 working adults living in Great Britain. Findings suggest that perhaps many employees are struggling with the ever changing ‘new normal’ and the challenges that it brings.
Since some moved from working remotely to office or hybrid working following the easing of lockdown restrictions, almost two-thirds (723%) of those whose mental health has worsened since the beginning of the pandemic attribute their work life as being at least partly responsible. Meanwhile, almost a third (28%) believe that their employer is not doing enough to safeguard their mental health at work.
Among those who felt their work life contributed to their worsened mental wellbeing, too much change in the workplace (31%), unclear communication (30%) and employees not feeling comfortable talking about their mental wellbeing in their workplace or to their boss (27%), were key contributing factors.
In addition, the findings highlighted that staff are no longer feeling confident in jobs they were previously grounded in, and they are more concerned about not knowing where they are headed than they are about having to return to their daily commute (14%) or for their personal safety due to ongoing Covid issues when working back in the office (17%). Meanwhile, 16% are also worried about getting used to hybrid working policies.
Cate Murden, founder of Push, said: “The survey that we ran with YouGov backed up everything that Push is hearing from our clients already: Mental wellbeing has decreased since the pandemic, and this is often due to ongoing change and uncertainty in the workplace which has massively increased our levels of anxiety.”
