Employee mental health plummets with return to work plans on the horizon

Employees are dreading a return to the office once COVID restrictions are lifted.

Stress, anxiety, PTSD and depressed moods have all increased since March after slight improvements earlier in the year, according to the most recent Mental Health Index by Total Brain and the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.

Women and older employees are struggling the most with their mental health: feelings of anxiety increased 33% for women from March levels, and stress increased 25%, the index found. Older employees reported a 40% increase in their anxiety levels.

Read more: 10 ways to help employees manage their mental health

“After more than a year of emotional stress and trauma, employers and employees will never be the same,” Michael Thompson, National Alliance president and CEO, said in a release. “As we get to the other side of the pandemic, we look with both hope and anxiety to a period of renewal, reconnection and reconstruction of our longer-term realities.”

Two-thirds of employees say they have anxiety about returning to the workplace after more than a year of remote working. Employees have continuously struggled with poor work-life balance and high levels of stress and burnout. With employers hoping to reopen offices and return to pre-pandemic life, they must be prepared to deal with a workforce in crisis.

Read more: 8 low-cost apps to help employees manage their mental health

“Workers want employers to help break the stigma of mental health struggles,” Louis Gagnon, CEO of Total Brain, said in a release. “They want a corporate culture that embraces open dialogue about mental health and an employer that provides a full-spectrum of mental health resources.”

While employers have made efforts to support their workforce through telehealth, EAPs and other virtual wellness offerings, more than half of employees do not think their organization has done enough to address mental health issues, the index found.

These challenges are impacting workplace productivity, especially among young male employees. The ability to sustain attention is 167% worse than before the pandemic for this population. All employees have seen a 65% decrease in attention span over the past month.

“The employees who have been working at make-shift kitchen table desks and bedrooms turned temporary offices are not the same employees who fled the workplace in March 2020,” Gagnon said. “The mental health impacts of the past year will linger for some time and cannot be ignored.”