Half Of Workers Say Their Job Is Bad For Their Mental Health

A new survey looks at how people’s jobs impact their mental health and productivity. It finds that four in 10 workers in the U.S. report that their job has a somewhat negative or extremely negative impact on their mental health.

The survey of nearly 16-thousand working adults finds:

  • One in five reports that their mental health is poor to fair, the two lowest ratings in the poll.
  • Those workers report about four times more unplanned absences from work because of poor mental health than workers who report having better mental health. Over 12 months, those with fair or poor mental health are estimated to miss nearly 12 days compared to 2.5 days for other workers.
  • Women are more likely to report poor or fair mental health than men, 23% compared to 15%.
  • While some workplaces do offer easily accessible mental health services to employees, more than half (57%) of workers surveyed are unable to confirm they’re offered in their workplace and 24% report their workplace doesn’t offer them.
  • Missing work means lost productivity and generalized across the U.S. workforce, missing work because of mental health is estimated to cost the U.S. economy $47.6-billion a year in lost productivity.

"For employees, their jobs and their workplaces more generally are significant influences on their overall wellbeing and the wellbeing of their family members," explains Dan Witters, lead study author and research director at the Gallup National Health and Wellbeing Index. "That for so many their current job is harming their mental health is a devastating reality that leaders are going to need to come to grips with and take seriously."

Source: Good Morning America


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