Employee Outlook: Focus on mental health in the workplace - Mind

Mental health at workMental health at workIn September 2011, CIPD commisioned YouGov to surveyover 2,000 employees (including sole traders) to identifytheir experiences and attitudes about mental health in theworkplace. More than a quarter (26%) of employees reportthey have experienced mental health problems while inemployment, with women more likely to say this is the case(31%) than men (22%). <strong>Employee</strong>s aged between 35 and 44are most likely to have experienced mental health difficulties.People working in the voluntary sector (39%) and publicsectors (37%) are significantly more likely than those in theprivate sector (23%) to say they have experienced a mentalhealth problem (see Table 1).Overall, seven out of ten people describe their current mentalhealth as good (41%) or very good (33%); however, morethan a quarter of respondents believe their mental health ismoderate (21%), while 3% describe it as poor and 1% asvery poor (see Table 2).Men are more likely to report their mental health as goodor very good than women, who are significantly more likelyto report their mental health as moderate. There is littlegender difference between those reporting poor or very poormental health.Workers in the voluntary sector are more likely to reportpoor or very poor mental health, followed by private sectoremployees and public sector workers, who are least likely tosay they experience poor mental health.Table 1: Have you experienced mental health problems while in employment? (%)All Men Women 18–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55+PrivatesectorPublicsectorYes 26 22 31 18 26 31 28 23 23 37 39No 71 76 66 75 72 65 71 76 75 62 582 2 3 7 3 3 2 2 2 2 4Prefer notto answerVoluntarysectorTable 2: Thinking about your current mental health, would youdescribe your mental health currently as…? (%)All Men WomenVery good 33 36 29Good 41 42 40Moderate 21 18 24Poor 3 3 3Very poor 1 1 2Don’t know 0 0 0Prefer not to answer 1 0 13 <strong>Focus</strong> on mental health in the workplace