Employee mental health has deteriorated by 14 percent since the start of the pandemic

​GetApp’s research study reveals that positive mental health has dropped by 14 percent since the start of the pandemic. Whereas in pre-pandemic times, 66 percent reported good or excellent mental health, which dropped to 52 percent in February 2022. 

In the midst of the pandemic, good or excellent mental health reached an all-time low of 42 percent, demonstrating a 24 percent drop since before the pandemic hit. This data reveals the detrimental effects the covid outbreak caused on mental health still prevail in businesses today.

The study uncovered that 22 percent of respondents believe they are more stressed at work compared to last year. Most blamed the increasing workload for their main source of stress (at 40 percent), followed by a lack of help and support provided by their manager (21 percent). 19 percent encountered stress from having to balance their home life and personal life, whilst 19 percent blamed their fear of catching covid on their heightened stress levels. 

Although covid did play a part in amplifying employees’ levels of stress,  it was principally general work-related issues that caused the most tension. This suggests that it wasn’t covid itself that engendered the most harm, but more the mental strain of covid, which impacted everyday undertakings.

According to the study, the most common mental health symptoms caused by workplace stress include sleeping problems (at 31 percent), followed by consistent worrying (28 percent) and difficulty concentrating (24 percent). 

The covid-19 outbreak has reshaped working life in a multitude of different ways. Pre covid, 76 percent of respondents worked solely on-site, whilst 9 percent had a hybrid work arrangement. Compared to now, where 58% work solely on-site, and 22 percent work according to the hybrid working model. 

This new working model brought about many positive changes for employees. Flexible working hours improved by 30 percent, whilst 29 percent of respondents reported improvements to their work-life balance.

However, despite this, job satisfaction and motivation saw the sharpest decrease, at 24 percent and 26 percent respectively. Connection to company culture (23 percent) and coworker collaboration (22 percent) were also factors that suffered at the hands of the pandemic. This could be explained in part by the social distancing rules in place at the time, further isolating colleagues from one another.

David Jani, content analyst at GetApp UK, comments:

The results from GetApp’s recent study on mental health in the workplace have revealed that it’s not just the pandemic that has affected staff wellbeing, although it has become a major factor. 

Around a fifth of our respondents claimed they experienced stress from the fear of catching COVID at work, yet it was common issues such as lack of managerial support (affecting 21 percent) and increased workload (40 percent) which influenced negative mental health the most.

Nevertheless, these factors combined have contributed to the quite dramatic drop of 14 percentage points in positive mental health that exists as of February 2022. 

There are many costs, both in terms of finances and productivity that come from poor workplace mental wellbeing and companies that are proactive in dealing with these matters stand to mitigate these potential setbacks the most.