Across all workers, stress, depression and anxiety accounted for 55% of all working days lost, according to new research by online therapy service manconfidence.co.uk.
The service analysed data from the Health and Safety Executive’s Labour force survey, and found that mental health issues accounted for 65% of all workdays lost by female employees across all age groups, with an average of 0.91 days lost per female worker compared to 0.44 days for males.
Females aged 55 and over miss an average of 1.31 days of work annually due to stress, depression, or anxiety, the highest figure among all demographic groups. This represents 62.7% of all days missed in this age group. Meanwhile, women aged 25-34 miss 0.9 days of work annually due to mental health, resulting in 73.8% of days lost per worker.
Women aged 16-24 lose the least amount of days, with 0.4 days lost per worker. Despite this, female Gen Z workers have the highest proportion of days lost due to mental health issues at 85.1%, as they take an average of 0.47 days off work across all conditions.
Among men, those aged 25-34 lose the most days to mental health issues, 0.54 days per worker annually. Workers in this age group take an average of 0.72 days off per year across all causes, meaning absenteeism due to mental health accounts for 75% of all days missed.
Following this, men aged over 55 lose 0.48 days per worker annually due to mental health concerns. While they average 1.69 days of absence per worker each year, only 28.4% of their missed days are attributed to mental health.
Dr. Junaid Hussain, psychologist at manconfidence.co.uk, said: “Women are consistently taking more time off for mental health reasons across all age brackets, apart from those aged 16-24. Employers need to create supportive and human-first environments, which could lead to less work-related stress and anxiety among their employees, and help all workers to feel comfortable addressing mental health concerns and the need for some time off work to properly deal with these issues.
“They should also recognise that lower absence rates among men do not necessarily indicate better mental health. Workplace mental health initiatives need to specifically address these barriers while also supporting women.”
