For this year’s mental health awareness week, Vitality is drawing attention to the deterioration of employee mental health, as results from its Britain’s Healthiest Workplace has shown that rates of depression, anxiety, and concerningly burnout have been on the rise consistently for the past 10 years.
Data from Vitality found that anxiety and depression rates among UK workers has risen 75% with burnout in particular impacting just over 1 in 10 employees (15%).
Vitality hopes these findings highlight how vital it is to address and prevent burnout from businesses looking to both safeguard employee health as well as employee productivity, as those impacted by the burnout lose 119% more productive time than those not experiencing it.
Specified by WHO as an ‘occupational phenomenon’, burnout is technically defined as a state of physical and emotional exhaustion, brought on by professional stress. Burnout is associated with physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms including:
- Feeling tired or exhausted most of the time
- Frequent headaches, muscle or joint pain
- High blood pressure
- Feeling overwhelmed, demotivated and unable to concentrate
- Persistent feelings of dread, worry and anxiety
- Procrastinating and taking longer to complete things
- Decreased output and productivity
Furthermore, Vitality found that younger people are 15% more likely to experience burnout than their older colleagues*, suggesting that younger employees are slipping through the gaps when it comes to managing stress and receiving the necessary support.
Arun Thiyagarajan, CEO of VitalityHealth said: “This data highlights the high risk that burnout poses to both individuals and businesses, and the benefits that are available by prioritising workplace health and supporting employee.
“This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and given more of the UK workforce than ever before are reporting not only burnout but a range of mental health concerns, it is a chance for us all to reflect, and look at what more we can do to focus on prevention across the whole workforce, and providing relevant and timely support to those that need it.”
