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Nearly two in five office workers have little or no confidence in their organization’s ability to prioritize their mental health, according to a global study that finds a gap between what employers promise and what they achieve in terms of mental health support.
While employees generally felt that organizations had taken positive steps to improve physical health since the start of the pandemic, to research from health care and benefit provider Aetna International found that many still felt their mental health was not being prioritized as they had hoped. While 36% said their employer’s communications regarding mental health issues had been ‘good’ in the past year, only 25% said the same about concrete steps that were taken to support mental well-being. This is in stark contrast to the previous year’s survey, which found that 52% of respondents rated their employer’s support for mental health as “good”. Thirty-eight percent of the 3,520 office workers surveyed said they had little or no confidence in their employer’s ability to prioritize their mental health. “Over the past year and certainly throughout the pandemic, companies have expressed the importance of employee health and well-being much more,” said David Healy, CEO of Aetna International. “However, many workers still feel that their mental health is not as important to their employer as their physical health.
