43% of employers say more employees are talking about mental health

The workplace stigma around mental health appears to have been lifted, with 43% of employers reporting that they’ve witnessed employees talking more about their mental health in the last 12 months.

However, only 12% of employees have confided in their bosses about their mental health, and one in seven of those who did speak to their boss said that no action was being taken to remedy the situation.

This data was collected in a recent survey from Peninsula Group, that surveyed companies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the UK to take a mental health temperature check and see if increased financial pressures and cost-of-living crisis are having an impact on the mental health of the workplace.

Although it’s encouraging that so many employees are more comfortable speaking openly about mental health, according to the survey, employers are not doing the same. The report found that only 10% of Canadian employers who had experienced mental health issues over the last 12 months were taking advantage of EAP services. Rather than utilizing company services, employers reported that they turned to family and friends for support instead. Employers should remember that while they are offering support to employees, the service is there to support everyone, regardless of seniority.

Other key findings include:

• Employers in Canada and Australia are more likely to take time off work due to mental health than those in the UK or Ireland.
• More than two-thirds of bosses in all four countries are comfortable discussing employees’ mental health concerns.
• 46% of UK employers have seen an increase in the number of people in their workplace experiencing issues with mental health.
• Canadian employers are more likely to offer mental health days in addition to personal leave entitlement than any other. 23% already offer them with another 15% planning to introduce them within the next 12 months.
• In comparison, 85% of employers in the UK, 81% in Ireland and 67% in Australia do not offer mental health days or plan to introduce them in the next 12 months.
• Ireland is seeing an increase in the number of people taking time off work to care for family members with mental health issues; it was the only one of the four countries surveyed where this ranked in the top three answers.

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