WHAT IF THE PROBLEM IS THE WORKPLACE?
However, that is where future problems could lie.
Given how much productive time has, historically, been lost to stress and other mental health issues, it is good news that employers are trying to make it easier to access treatment. But the more employers insert themselves into the whole area of supporting mental health, the more they open themselves up to claims that they are falling short.
Work remains a significant source of stress and unhappiness for many people – and training programmes and mindfulness apps are not enough to help someone who is stressed because of a toxic manager or an unmanageable workload. “If the problem is the workplace, then a mental health first responder (programme) is a joke,” Ryan warns. “Organisations need to get down and dirty with what is going on.”
A new poll of more than 2,500 US workers by recruitment consultants Robert Walters found that 60 per cent said they were suffering workplace stress, and nearly half said concerns about job stability were the biggest trigger. Despite a big increase in corporate spending on wellness initiatives since the start of the pandemic, 62 per cent still told pollsters that their employers were not doing enough to combat stress.
And separate research by Wellable, which works with companies on their wellness offerings, suggests that companies are only willing to go so far to deal with mental health issues. While more than half of companies said they were spending more on employee assistance hotlines and digital health tools in 2023, less than 15 per cent planned to offer their staff extra time off.
This tension is only going to get worse if the economy contracts. Although some workplaces invested significantly in health programmes during and after the pandemic, it is not clear that these commitments will survive. Many employers are already moving to reverse the promises made on hybrid working in the face of what they see as a drag on productivity. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, despite their generous therapy offers, are on the leading edge of companies pushing for a return to five days in the office.
If companies respond to falling revenues by cutting both staff and spending on mental health, the double blow of increased workloads and reduced support could seriously undermine the progress made to date.
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