As October 10th recognizes World Mental Health Day, chronic stress and burnout continue to sweep through the workplace, and workplace anxiety has become a top occupational hazard. Last year the Surgeon General announced that toxic workplaces are a top five health crisis, that 87% of employees say they’re suffocating in toxic work cultures and that 79% report work-induced mental illness. Showpad conducted a survey and found that 40% of workers are experiencing workplace anxiety, and 65% say it has been triggered by going into the office or engaging in office conversations.
A new Atticus study found that mental health issues such as stress and anxiety are now the number one most common workplace injury, making up 52% of all workplace injury cases. Google searches for “burnout” have skyrocketed 63% in September. And it’s not just employees. A total of 43% of middle managers also report burnout—more than any other worker group. As mental health issues are now the number one most common workplace injury, the team at Atticus surveyed 1,000 employees and collected recent data from OSHA, BLS and Google Trends to explore professionals’ mental health decline. Here are some of the key findings:
- One in 10 workers experience mental health issues due to their work.
- The highest workplace injuries (52%) are related to stress and anxiety.
- Mental health issues are 10 times more common work-related injury than chemical exposure and 8.6 times more common than head injuries.
- For comparison, 19% of employees have been physically injured at work, and 26% of them filed workers’ compensation as a result.
- Four in 10 employers don’t offer disability insurance.
I spoke by email with Merritt Ryan, data journalist working on behalf of Atticus. He told me, “We were surprised to uncover strong relationships between schedules, convenience and safety at work. Over one-quarter of all respondents were willing to adjust their work schedules to ensure greater safety. Similarly, 30% of respondents would be willing to forgo convenience in favor of improved workplace safety.”
As the tech industry faces more layoffs and employees face increasingly demanding work, the role of HR is vital in supporting employees—but how is HR handling toxic work environments and terminations? The team at B2B surveyed over 1,000 employees in the tech industry to find out. Here are their key findings:
- Nearly one in 10 tech employees describe their company culture as toxic.
- Only one in 10 tech employees filed a complaint with HR in the last six months, with burnout due to increased workload (31%) as the most common complaint.
- Over two in five tech employees reported layoffs at their company in the last six months.
- Over one in 10 HR tech employees have used ChatGPT to craft terminations.
- Over half of HR employees working in tech have used ChatGPT, saving an average of 70 minutes per week.
But job burnout isn’t solely a consequence of workplace conditions. There’s one thing many employees bring to work that contributes to stress and anxiety. Perfectionistic burnout results from traits workers impose on themselves throughout the workday or workweek. According to a 2022 Gallup poll, 76% of American workers report experiencing the end-of-their-rope fatigue and frustration that are the hallmarks of burnout. And perfectionists, more than the average worker, are at higher risk for burnout which has increased from the 1980s until now—the rise believed to be the country’s increases in pressure, stress and anxiety. A self-care plan can help you know your limits, set realistic expectations, avoid burnout and communicate feelings of overwhelm or fatigue to bosses and coworkers. This may mean turning down a new project or giving up some responsibilities to clear your plate. We all have a responsibility to do our part to protect our mental health. Practice “me time” (mindfulness, exercise, microbreaks, hobbies and eating habits) regularly and throw people-pleasing out the window if it conflicts with your mental health.
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