When we talk about mental health in the workplace, it’s natural to visualize the stresses inherent in working as an everyday employee. “Worker bees,” as they are affectionately known, deal with a lot of pressure every day. That pressure can have a long-term effect if people are not careful and proactive in dealing with it. Fortunately, workplace wellness has become a focus of countless organizations large and small in size, and it is making a difference in the overall work environment across the world.
However, most people do not consider top level management when they think about mental health in the workplace. That’s likely because there are simply more people on lower levels of every organization chart than there are at the top. Given what is usually a lucrative compensation package for CEOs and the like, what’s there to be worried about, right? Whatever is affecting “the boss” and those directly underneath him or her can be handled with the resources he or she has available.
According to a recent study, that may not be the case. Problems relating to mental health in the workplace do in fact reach all the way to the top, and CEOs struggle with these challenges just like everyone else. Our team of mental health professionals at SoCal Empowered of Idaho has worked with people on every level of their organizations, and below we’re going to dig into this study and share some of the more interesting and surprising findings.
About the Mental Health in the Workplace Study
The study we’re going to discuss is a product of BusinessSolver.com, an emerging organization that delivers AI-driven benefits management and other solutions designed to help with the HR aspect of managing organizations. Specifically, BusinessSolver.com focuses on helping HR professionals and employees understand their healthcare benefits, which is a confusing issue for people across the spectrum in the professional world.
The company recently published the 2024 State of Workplace Empathy, which is a comprehensive look at the way people are handling their professional lives from a mental health standpoint. In order to complete the survey, BusinessSolver.com engaged a third party to generate survey responses from more than 3,000 respondents across six industries:
- Financial services
- Government
- Healthcare
- Hospitality
- Manufacturing
- Technology
Each respondent needed to be of adult age, a resident of the United States and work within an organization with at least 100 employees. Finally, the surveyors delineated subgroups defined as follows:
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Parent/non-parent status
- Veteran status
- Self-identified LGBTQ+
- Managers
- Work location status (remote, hybrid, in-person)
- Generations
The Results of the Mental Health in the Workplace Study
Although there are many data points to cover, we’re going to start with what appears to be a growing problem for CEOs. According to the responses:
- 55 percent of CEOs experienced a mental health issue during the previous year. That represents a jump of 24 points over the previous year.
- 52 percent of CEOs cited workplace toxicity as a problem, up from 42 percent in 2023.
- 88 percent of CEOs view their organization as empathetic, down 5 points from the previous year.
- 84 percent of CEOs view their HR teams as empathetic, down 4 points from 2023.
- 86 percent of CEOs see their employees as empathetic, down 6 points year-over-year.
While the responses in the 80s are down, they are still high when viewed independently. What’s been generating strong reactions is the fact that CEO mental health issues jumped by 24 percent in only one year, and more than half of the CEOs viewed their workplace as toxic. This indicates a potential burnout problem with organizational leaders.
Broader Results
In addition to the difficulties CEOs appear to be having with mental health in the workplace, other problems appeared in the survey results. One of the most troubling involves the stigma surrounding mental health. Despite all of the awareness and outreach efforts made by countless people and groups worldwide, there still persists a negative view of people who are suffering from mental illness.
For example, 81 percent of CEOs agreed with the notion that companies view someone who is suffering from mental health issues as “weak” or a “burden” on the overall efforts of the organization. 72 percent of HR professionals also agreed with that statement, as did 67 percent of all of the other employees. Given this pervasive belief, it should come as no surprise that many people are simply not going to talk about their problems if they are struggling. This despite the fact that more than 90 percent of respondents stated that mental health is just as important as physical health.
What It All Means
We can glean several things from this mental health in the workplace analysis:
- Everyone can suffer from mental health challenges in the workplace, from the bottom of the organizational chart to the very top.
- People are beginning to understand the importance of mental health as it relates to their overall state of wellbeing.
- Far too many people still view those who suffer from mental illness negatively, perpetuating the stigma relating to these challenges.
The bottom line appears to be that while we are learning more about mental health in the workplace and we want to improve it, we still have a lot of work to do. Our hope is that the wellness efforts, increased support and the like continue and begin to make more of a difference going forward.
How SoCal Empowered of Idaho Can Help
Regardless of where you are on your organizational chart, it’s quite possible that you’re struggling with mental illness. You need to ignore that stigma and do something about it as soon as possible. You can start by contacting one of our Idaho mental health professionals to discuss your situation. We’ll help you determine the best course of action and work with you to find the right resource for help, whether that includes working with us or not.
Contact us today to get started on improved mental health.
