It is, to a certain degree, the internal communicator’s role to ensure the mental wellbeing of their staff. However, recent research by mental health charity, Mind, reveals that the majority of employees experience high levels of stress at work.

The report shows that work-related stress far outweighs financial worries with 56% of those researched describing their job as either fairly, or very, stressful.

Emma Mamo, head of workplace wellbeing at Mind, says, “This research reveals the scale of stress among employees. What is really worrying is that it's not just the prevalence of stress and mental health problems at work, but that staff don’t feel supported to help cope with workplace stress.”

The research, conducted for National Stress Awareness Day, indicated that mental health issues are still swept under the rug within most workplaces and employees often feel unable to talk about their stress levels. Of the 14% of respondents who had been diagnosed with a mental health problem, fewer than half had told their current employer.

“We know employers are starting to take mental health at work more seriously, but they clearly still have a long way to go in helping tackle the causes of stress and poor mental health at work. People still don’t feel comfortable talking about mental health at work or telling their employer if they’ve been off sick with stress. Yet many staff will be affected by these issues. That’s why it’s so important that organisations proactively manage staff wellbeing, and create an open culture where their employees are able to talk about wellbeing without fear of discrimination or being perceived as weak or incapable.” Mamo continues.

The survey shows how workplace stress impacts on other aspects of people’s lives; such as their personal relationships and physical health. 

Tackling common issues such as excessive workloads, frustration with poor management and unrealistic targets could help to improve staff’s stress levels and thus prevent the development of more serious and long term problems. This would inevitably have a positive impact on performance.

Mamo concludes, “Employers don’t necessarily need to put costly interventions in place – small, inexpensive measures can make a huge difference to staff wellbeing. Mind has produced a Wellness Action Plan which is free to download. This resource allows managers and staff to jointly identify their particular causes of stress, and what can be done to address this, before it becomes worse and leads to further problems.”

Mind and YouGov surveyed 1,250 people in the UK.