A majority (88 per cent) of organizations across the globe believe their workers are more stressed now than they were two years ago, according to a new survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

Employers said a majority (92 per cent) of their overall employee population is now somewhat or very stressed. And almost three-quarters (68 per cent) of respondents said mental-health and substance use disorder challenges among workers have also significantly or somewhat increased over the last two years. As a result, mental-health benefits are growing in popularity, with these employers now offering access to online resources/tools (81 per cent), online treatment sessions (49 per cent offer) and mental-health crisis training (30 per cent).

Read: Workplace well-being, mandatory vaccinations affecting Canadians’ mental health: survey

“Mental well-being was a big challenge before the COVID-19 pandemic and concern is only growing as our worker populations deal with the continual unknowns of the pandemic,” said Julie Stich, vice-president of content at the IFEB, in a press release. “Employers are working to effectively connect with and provide benefits for employees, from offering more digital tools to facilitating peer support groups to expanding mental-health crisis training initiatives.”

According to the survey, the top five mental-health/substance use disorder conditions reported among employees are anxiety disorders (25 per cent), depression (24 per cent), sleep deprivation/disorders (eight per cent), attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (eight per cent) and alcohol addiction (eight per cent).

Read: One year later: How the pandemic sped up the shift to virtual mental-health care

The most prevalent conditions respondents said their organizations are covering for employees are anxiety disorders (60 per cent), alcohol addiction (57 per cent), depression (54 per cent), sleep deprivation/disorders (43 per cent) and ADD/ADHD (32 per cent).

As well, 19 per cent of the respondents cover autism, followed by bipolar disorder (46 per cent), eating disorders (51 per cent), gambling addictions (41 per cent), non-prescription drug addiction (35 per cent), obsessive compulsive disorder (41 per cent), post-traumatic stress disorder (49 per cent) and prescription drug addiction (43 per cent).

Read: 2021 BPS coverage: Pandemic presents opportunity to address substance use with employees