Majority of employees experience mental health symptoms yet many are delaying seeking help

UK organisations are caught in a mental health crisis with 81 per cent of workers experiencing mental health symptoms –  including stress, anxiety, depression, burnout and loneliness – in the past 12 months. This is according to a new survey of 3,000 working adults by integrated employee care platform, Sonder, which also finds that one third (34 per cent) of respondents have delayed seeking medical support.

According to research – which underpins Sonder’s new ‘State of Employee Mental Health and Wellbeing Report’ and was carried out by YouGov –  the main reasons for postponing a doctor’s visit included assuming that symptoms were not serious enough to warrant medical attention (47 per cent);  lengthy appointment wait times (42 per cent); a lack of time (39 per cent) and concerns at what the diagnosis might reveal (32 per cent).

These delays risk a worsening of conditions, leading to longer, more complex recovery for individuals as well prolonged absenteeism for the organisation.

The findings echo the UK Government’s Keep Britain Working review which shows that the UK economy is already feeling the strain of widespread burnout, anxiety and long-term sickness absence.

According to Sonder nearly all respondents (94 per cent) report fatigue or low energy levels at some point while 71 per cent are also experiencing physical symptoms that undermine their productivity and only one in five UK workers (21 per cent) feels a genuine sense of belonging at work.

This lack of confidence in available professional help with mental health comes despite most UK employees broadly approving of bosses’ broader efforts to support them at work. Four in five respondents (81 per cent) endorse their employer’s financial/wellbeing support and two-thirds say their organisation has practically supported hybrid/remote working.

UK workers already believe in self-help to manage their anxiety and wellbeing – half (49 per cent) takes physical exercise to control these symptoms and the same proportion relies on social connections to do so. However, employees’ endorsement of more systematic and far-reaching mental health support measures suggests a huge opportunity for UK organisations to do more to address workforce anxiety and burnout issues.

The survey also found that:

• A six to one majority – 64 per cent to 9 per cent – says discounted or subsidised healthcare is important/very important compared with those who say it isn’t
• Those saying critical incident support is valuable or very valuable outweighs those who disagree by five to one – 57 per cent to 11 per cent
• A three to one majority – 57 per cent to 17 per cent – state that mental health first aid training at work is important/very important versus those disagreeing.

Craig Cowdrey CEO, Sonder said: “Most workers regularly feel exhausted or burnt out which is consistently undermining their ability to give their best. 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 game-changing 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.”