More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of employees say their manager impacts their mental health as much as their spouse or partner, according to a new survey by human resources consultancy UKG.
The survey, which polled 2,200 employees from around the world, found 70 per cent of respondents said their employer needs to do more to support mental health and a third said their manager fails to recognize the impact they have on their team’s mental well-being.
Forty per cent of respondents said they’re “often” or “always” stressed about work, but 38 per cent said they “rarely” or “never” talk with their manager about their workload. Similarly, 43 per cent of employees said they’re “often” or “always” exhausted at the end of the workday.
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A majority of employees said work-related stress impacts their work performance (78 per cent), as well as their home life, personal well-being (64 per cent) and relationships (62 per cent). Among workers who describe their mental health as “poor” or “very poor,” more than a quarter (28 per cent) said they lack work-life balance, compared to just four per cent who reported “good” or “excellent” mental health.
The survey also found 80 per cent of respondents said they’d rather have good mental health than a high-paying job and two-thirds said they’d take a pay cut for a job that better supports their mental wellness.
“We talk a lot about mental health in terms of a medical diagnosis or burnout,” said Pat Wadors, chief people officer at UKG, in a press release. “While those are serious issues, the day-to-day stressors we live with — especially those caused by work — are what we should talk more about as leaders. Life isn’t all milk and honey and, when leaders open up about their own struggles, they acknowledge employees are not alone and that it’s OK not to be OK.”
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