New Mind the Workplace Report Released

Mental Health America (MHA) has released its 2024 Mind the Workplace Report: Healthy Workplaces Lead with Trust and Support. The report explores how business leaders can integrate mental health into their workplace’s infrastructure and culture, from building trust through transparent communication to cultivating supportive people managers. Findings suggest that when employers invest in structural, high-impact practices, employees report more positive experiences of belonging, psychological safety, and empowerment in their workplace, ultimately improving their mental health and well-being.

The report is based on MHA’s Work Health Survey which collected responses from 3,915 employees across 21 industries in the U.S. who shared their experiences of trust, appreciation, psychological safety, and support at work and its impact on their well-being. MHA also collected optional demographic data to understand how a multi-generational workforce and different work environments impact employees’ well-being and support needs.

2024 Key Findings of the Report

• Most employees report that work stress impacts their sleep and relationships, but the degree varies greatly depending on their workplace’s overall health. Three in four employees agreed that work stress affects their sleep. However, 90% of employees in unhealthy workplaces agreed with this statement, compared to 44% in healthy workplaces.
  

• Generation Z employees and Millennials report poorer overall work health scores than other generations. 70% of generation Z employees and 60% of Millennials had unhealthy work health scores. Similar trends were present for nearly all other measures, with younger generations reporting unhealthier scores and experiences.

• Employees with higher rates of psychological safety feel more confident advocating for their or others’ needs in the workplace. Of employees who felt confident expressing their opinions with their team, 87% strongly agreed that they felt confident advocating for their and others’ needs.

• Generation Z employees feel less psychologically safe in the workplace than other generations. 63% reported not feeling confident expressing their opinions, and 60% don’t feel they can be themselves at work.

• Transparent communication and supportive people management are the foundation of a healthy and psychologically safe workplace.  Employers who encourage transparent communication (r=0.724) and develop fair and supportive people managers (r=0.778) strongly correlate with overall work health scores.*

• However, fewer than half of employees are in workplaces that support these practices.  Only 47% of employees agreed that their employer encourages clear and transparent communication, and 45% agreed that they invest in developing fair and supportive people managers.

Notes:

1. In research, “r” typically stands for the Pearson correlation coefficient, which is a statistical measure that describes the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two variables; essentially, how closely two variables are related to each other, with a value ranging from -1 (perfect negative correlation) to +1 (perfect positive correlation).
2. All information was created by and is the property of Mental Health America (MHA). Read the full report on MHA’s website to learn more about survey findings. 

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