Evidence is piling up that many in today’s workplace are not OK. Stressors like financial insecurity, worries about AI, and political strife spilling into the workplace are dragging people down. And employers and employees aren’t always coping well. While no perfect solution is likely to surface, suggestions abound on how employers can help.
Trust Versus Anxiety
Modern Health, a global workplace mental health platform, released a report in April 2026 that shows increased pressure on workers. All too often, workers feeling the strain are turning to substances to manage stress, according to the survey of 1,000 full-time employees at companies with 250 or more employees.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the respondents report having used alcohol, THC/marijuana, or unprescribed pharmaceutical drugs at some point in the past year to relieve stress. In addition, 52% report using substances to cope with work stress during the workday itself.
Seventy-six percent of respondents report mental health coverage through employee health benefits, but just 33% of the employees strongly agree that their employer values their mental health—down from 41% who felt that way in 2025.
The collapse of trust is driving workers away from the people in their organizations who are there to help, according to the Modern Health report. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents say they feel safer talking to a chatbot about their mental health than their workplace HR department.
The report says 41% of the respondents felt judged for using employer-provided mental health days, and 50% didn’t use them at all—not because they didn’t need them but because of fear of judgment.
The Modern Health research also found 48% of the employees say their job had negatively affected their mental health over the past year, and 84% report that burnout is affecting their productivity at least slightly, while 72% have felt pressured to work through mental health struggles—up 10 points from 2025.
What are the Risks?
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in September 2024 that globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost annually to depression and anxiety at a cost of $1 trillion a year in lost productivity. The report also notes that poor working environments, including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control, and job insecurity, pose a risk to mental health.
Just a few of the work-related risks to employees’ mental health named in the report include:
- Under-use of skills or being under-skilled for work;
- Excessive workloads or work pace and understaffing;
- Long, unsocial or inflexible hours;
- Lack of control over job design or workload, violence, harassment, or bullying;
- Discrimination and exclusion; and
- Job insecurity, inadequate pay, or poor investment in career development.
Prioritizing Mental Health
A 2025 report from Modern Health notes that many employees hadn’t fully recovered from the toll the COVID pandemic had on their mental health. Modern Health’s chief medical officer, Dr. Neha Chaudhary, said that means employers need to prioritize “an authentic and supportive culture in order to enhance workforce resilience, boost productivity, and retain employees.”
The study found workplace mental benefits lacking, with only 36% of employees feeling their employer provides adequate mental health coverage and 81% believing they need more mental health benefits.
The Modern Health survey found 88% of employees want a workplace culture that encourages employees to use mental health resources, and 58% of the employees say their employers’ conversations about mental health are insincere.
How can employers overcome their employees’ doubts? “Employees take their cues from leadership,” Chaudhary says. “If leaders and managers don’t visibly prioritize their own mental health, employees won’t believe it’s truly acceptable to do so. The most powerful culture shift happens not through organization-wide policy, but through example.”
Tips for Employers
In addition to higher-ups modeling ways to protect mental health, employers have other options. The WHO’s 2024 report includes recommendations on how employers can protect employees’ mental health:
- Manager training. Training helps managers recognize and respond to employees experiencing emotional distress. Such training also builds interpersonal skills, such as open communication and active listening, and it fosters better understanding of how job stressors affect mental health.
- Worker training. Training in mental health literacy and awareness improves knowledge and reduces stigma.
- Interventions. Psychosocial interventions and opportunities for leisure-based physical activity help individuals manage stress and reduce symptoms.
The American Psychological Association (APA) also lists ways to support employees’ mental health:
- Train managers and supervisors who work directly with employees. The report says midlevel managers are often the gatekeepers of employee well-being—the ones who publicize the benefits and resources an organization offers. So, without their buy-in, opportunities may not be on the minds of many staffers.
- Increase employees’ options for where, when, and how they work. A 2024 APA survey found employees are more satisfied when they’re given the chance to decide between in-person, remote, or hybrid schedules.
- Reexamine health insurance policies with a focus on mental health.
- Listen to what employees need, and use their feedback.
- Provide an inclusive and equitable work environment. The APA’s 2024 survey found employees with a cognitive, an emotional, a learning, or a mental disability are more likely to report a toxic work environment.