A tale of two halves regarding workplace wellbeing – conducted with 1,000 employees and a HR leader survey conducted with 200 HR leaders – shows workplace patterns comfortably stabilising, alongside concerning trends of increasing anxiety leading in some cases to substance abuse.
TACKLING INTENSE ANXIETY
Results of the Laya Healthcare Workplace Wellbeing Index shows that overall, while good mental health and wellbeing is rising in employees, so too is very poor mental health which has seen an incremental increase from 5% to 8%. Almost 20% of women and 12% of men report feeling anxious all the time.
Financial concerns including the rising cost of living continues to be a main driver of anxiety for 63% of those suffering from anxiety, which has decreased from 71% last year. Worryingly, the percentage of employees struggling with substance abuse, as an effect of anxiety, has doubled.
ACCEPTANCE
On a positive note, the stigma around mental health is being reduced. This may be attributed to the fact that more businesses are now offering mental wellbeing services to employees with 70% feeling supported by their employer to take time to look after their mental health, an increase of 10% in the last twelve months.
That feeling of support is evidenced from the top, with leaders actively engaging and participating in supports on offer (61%) and promoting a culture of wellbeing support (65%) with employees feeling encouraged by leadership to take care of their health and wellbeing (62%) – a significant increase in all measures year on year.
UNLOCKING WELLBEING FOR WOMEN
Women’s health and wellbeing in the workplace has improved this year but still trails men. Females placed significant value on flexibility in the workplace with 78% welcoming the option of wellbeing days at work, 37% explicitly saying that work is damaging their mental health, compared to 29% of men.
Two in three women also claimed to have worked when they should have been off sick and were less likely to take a sick day for mental health reasons (37% vs 41%) despite feeling more anxious than their male counterparts.
Two thirds of female employees feel it’s important to have a menopause policy in place with other family friendly supports also welcomed.
HYBRID MODEL
This year, there has been a shift in hybrid working and twice as many companies are now mandating in office days. Two days working from home is the new normal for most, compared to three days last year. While this shift is present across both genders, women are working more days from home than men, with 17% working from home four days a week versus just 6% of men. Almost six in ten hybrid workers claim to be more productive working from home.
IMPROVEMENT IN JOB SATISFACTION
Overall, job satisfaction is on the rise for employees with three in ten experiencing higher satisfaction than the year prior. This is in part driven by a greater work life balance and flexibility in the workplace.
Further importance has been placed by employees on childcare, with 16% citing the ability to balance childcare needs as a key factor in overall job satisfaction.
