2 in 5 Employees Battling Depression or Anxiety as Pandemic Drags On

Employee depression and anxiety have increased fourfold during the pandemic.

“The pandemic has only exacerbated longstanding problems around access to care in our broken behavioral health system,” said Kelly McDevitt, president of the Integrated Benefits Institute. “Employers are struggling to address the rapidly growing and changing needs of their employees and family members and as a result, many are making changes to their mental- health strategies.”

Two in five employees report symptoms of anxiety or depression disorder, according to research by the nonprofit organization, with workers in the South and West having the highest incidence of mental health issues. The IBI analyzed data from the Household Pulse Survey, an online resource created by the U.S. Census Bureau to determine how households are affected by the pandemic.

“This research was conducted to help organizations understand the urgency, to encourage better communication with employees and to make changes that remove barriers and improve access to care,” McDevitt said.

Among the other findings:

• Anxiety and depression disorder affected certain demographic groups more than others, with young adults ages 18 to 24 having the highest likelihood of experiencing mental health issues. Women were more likely to suffer (43%) than men (34%).
• Work disruption increased mental health issues among employees, with a higher percentage of those on leave reporting anxiety or depression disorder (49%) than employees currently working (38%).
• Employees who work remotely had the greatest levels of anxiety or depression disorder (41%) compared to employees who continued to work in person (36%) or already were working remotely before the pandemic (35%).
• Transitioning to telework and having kids at home had negative compounding effects on mental health, particularly for women (46%) compared to men with the same work disruptions (37.5%).

Ensuring employees received counseling when needed reduced the likelihood of them reporting mental health symptoms by 8% to 36%, depending on how effectively their needs were met. Employees on leave were worse off with their mental health regardless of counseling. Employees with kids at home from closed schools or changing to telework had higher anxiety or depression, even when counseling needs were met.