02/15/2024

People are Comfortable Discussing Mental Health at Work

They just don't want to discuss their own

As employees and employers adjust to new working conditions, including more flexible remote or hybrid schedules, they are also prioritizing something else that hasn't traditionally been part of the workplace environment: mental health.

In a new poll conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), researchers found encouraging signs that workers and their managers are more comfortable addressing mental health issues such as burnout and stress. But there are still gaps when it comes to creating a supportive mental-health environment in the workplace.

More than 2,000 people, including executives, completed the survey. All worked at companies with at least 100 employees. The participants answered questions about how comfortable they felt bringing up mental-health issues at work, what resources were available to them, and whether their employers provided mental-health benefits as part of their insurance coverage, among other things. About 74 percent of employees said they felt it was acceptable to discuss mental health issues at work, and slightly more—77 percent—said they would be comfortable if their colleagues discussed them. About 86 percent felt they could be themselves at work, and four out of five said they were satisfied with the emotional support they received from managers.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.