Four-fifths (81%) of employees have experienced mental health symptoms, including stress, anxiety, depression, burnout and loneliness, in the past 12 months, according to research by employee care platform Sonder.
Its State of employee mental health and wellbeing report, which surveyed 3,000 working adults, also found that one-third (34%) of respondents have delayed seeking medical support for mental health symptoms. The main reasons for postponing this included assuming that symptoms were not serious enough to warrant medical attention (47%); lengthy appointment wait times (42%); a lack of time (39%) and concerns at what the diagnosis might reveal (32%).
Nearly all respondents (94%) reported fatigue or low energy levels at some point, while 71% experience physical symptoms that undermine their productivity. Half (49%) said they do physical exercise to control symptoms, while the same proportion relies on social connections to do so.
Four-fifths (81%) said they endorse their employer’s financial wellbeing support and two-thirds said their organisation has practically supported hybrid and remote working. A fifth (21%) feel a genuine sense of belonging at work.
The survey also found that 64% said discounted or subsidised healthcare is important to them, compared to 9% who say it is not. Those who said critical incident support is valuable outweighs those who disagree, at 57% and 11% respectively.
Meanwhile, 57% of respondents said mental health first aid training at work is important, whereas 17% disagreed.
Craig Cowdrey, chief executive officer of Sonder, said: “Without access to the right support at the right time, the UK’s mental health and wellbeing crisis is only going to worsen. Despite most employees approving of their organisation’s efforts to provide a sympathetic work environment they still believe that effective interventions for their own deep-seated mental health needs are out of reach.
“For UK organisations to perform consistently better in the future, they will need to move from offering tactical support ‘at the edges’ to putting preventative mental health and wellbeing support at the centre of their employee value proposition. This means investing in more resilient cultures and connected workplaces but also in easily-accessible, clinically-based employee health, safety and wellbeing programmes.”
