There has been a dramatic increase in the number of employees across the globe who are reporting serious mental and emotional health concerns, according to a new report.
The report, published by Workplace Options, examined a set of data covering more than 100,000 employees across the globe to evaluate trends in the use of employee and family assistance programs (EFAPs) between 2012 and 2014.
If found that the number of cases dealing with employee depression increased 58%, while the number of cases dealing with employee anxiety and employee stress were also on the rise, by 74% and 28%, respectively.
Combined, employee depression, stress and anxiety accounted for 55.2% of all emotional health cases in 2012 compared with 82.6% in 2014.
“Serious mental health issues can have a devastating effect on organizations around the world,” said Dean Debnam, CEO of Workplace Options. “What this analysis means for businesses is that if your employees’ emotional well-being wasn’t already on the top of your list of priorities, it needs to be.”
The report also found that the number of employees seeking financial assistance through their EFAP increase very slightly over the three-year period, from 4.1% in 2012 to 6.1% in 2014.
Employees seeking legal referrals were also on the rise, accounting for 10.4% of all cases in 2012 compared with 14.8% in 2014.
“This is one of the first analyzes that details the changing way employees across the world are using their [EFAP] programs,” Debnam said.
“The issues we help people through today are far different than they were in the past – and businesses around the world need to carefully consider whether they have the right support structures in place that will allow their employees to prosper.”