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See pricingSince the pandemic, trends like the Great Resignation and quiet quitting have drawn attention to the importance of mental health in the workplace. The link between work and mental well-being is crystal clear, now more than ever.
Want to make sure your people are having their emotional needs met, but don’t know where to start? It’s important to first get a picture of the workplace mental health landscape before deciding on which next steps are the right ones for you.
We’ve put together a list of the most important workplace mental health statistics and data covering the breakdown of workplace mental health by country, company size, industry and identity, the impact poor mental health has on your team, the business cost of ignored workplace mental health, and some suggestions on what you can do to improve mental health in your organization.
Top mental health at work statistics (2026)
The impact poor mental health has on people
- More than 1 in 5 US adults (23.1%, or 59.3 million people) live with a mental illness. [1]
- 81% of workers say that how employers support mental health will be an important consideration when they look for future jobs. [2]
- However, while 74% of employees say it is appropriate to discuss mental health concerns at work, far fewer feel comfortable actually doing so. [6]
- Nearly half (48%) of employees say their mental well-being declined in 2022, and 28% said they are miserable in their workplace. 60% of employees also reported feeling emotionally detached at work. [4,5]
- Only 58% of employees say they would feel comfortable talking about their own mental health in the workplace. [6]
- Happy employees are 13% more productive, on average. [7]
The cost of poor employee mental health to business
- Globally, around 12 billion working days, or 50 million years of work, are lost every year to depression and anxiety. [8]
- Mental health issues cost the global economy around $1 trillion every year. [9]
Download our psychological safety questionnaire
Use our template to survey your employees, score their responses and identify areas of focus to develop a culture of psychological safety
US workplace mental health statistics
The cost of workplace mental health in the US
- You might think it’s obvious (and acceptable) to take time off to recover from any physical illnesses or injuries from work. But it might come as a surprise that workers who rate their mental health as fair or poor take around four times more unplanned time off than their colleagues [10]:
- Employees with fair or poor mental health miss almost 12 days of work a year in unplanned absences, compared with around 2.5 days for all other workers. [10]
- Major depressive disorder costs the US economy around $333.7 billion every year based on 2019 figures, equivalent to $382.4 billion in 2023 dollars. [11]
- Presenteeism accounts for around $43.3 billion of that total and absenteeism for another $38.4 billion, with direct healthcare costs adding $127.3 billion. [11]
- Unplanned absences linked to poor mental health cost the US economy an estimated $47.6 billion a year in lost productivity. [10]
- Half of US workers (50%) have left a previous role at least in part because of poor mental health. [13]
- The problem is growing: 76% of full-time US workers reported at least one symptom of a mental health condition in 2021, up from 59% in 2019. [13]
The impact of poor mental health on US employees
With mental health issues often being brushed under the table as ‘not real’ because of stigma, you’re likely to underestimate the very real repercussions of poor emotional well-being. In fact, research shows you are more likely to experience mental illness than you are to develop heart disease or diabetes. [12]
- 77% of US workers experienced work-related stress in the last month. [3]
- 17% of employees will struggle with a diagnosed mental health condition this year. They’ll be in emotional pain, and might not be able to work or function. [14]
- A further 38% of employees without a mental health condition will be feeling unmotivated, flat, burned out, anxious or low. This middle ground is known as languishing, and it’s surprisingly common. [14]
- Loneliness and declining mental health are strongly linked. In 2023 the US Surgeon General declared loneliness an epidemic: about half of US adults report experiencing loneliness, and its health impact is comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. [15]
- More than 8 in 10 US workers report at least one workplace factor that has a negative impact on their mental health. [13]
- Serious mental illness, which substantially interferes with major life activities, affects 6% of US adults, around 15.4 million people. [1]
- Only around half of US adults with a mental illness (50.6%) received mental health treatment in the past year. [1]
- 55% of workers say their employer thinks their workplace environment is mentally healthier than it actually is. [3]
- 57% of US employees report negative impacts of work-related stress that are often associated with workplace burnout. [3]
- More than three-quarters of employees who say stress interferes with their work say it carries over into their personal time, hinting at increasingly blurred work-life boundaries since the pandemic. [18]
- In 2023, 32.3% of US adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, down from a pandemic peak of 39.3% in early 2021. [16]
Workplace mental health statistics by size, sector and industry
- 57% of US employees say finances are the top source of stress in their lives, and financially stressed workers are more distracted at work and struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance. [17]
- 93% of US healthcare workers reported experiencing stress during the pandemic, and 82% reported emotional exhaustion, among the highest of any sector surveyed. [19]
- Men working in construction have one of the highest suicide rates of any major US industry, at around 56 per 100,000, second only to mining, showing how stigma is particularly prevalent in this industry. [20]
- Around 1 in 5 US workers (19%) rate their mental health as only fair or poor, and they account for the bulk of mental health-related absences. [10]
- 43% of workers worry that telling their employer about a mental health condition would have a negative impact on them in the workplace. [3]
- Around 19.8 million US adults experienced major depressive disorder in 2019, with the costs spread across every sector of the economy. [11]
- Across all sectors, ‘presenteeism’ (showing up for work without being productive due to poor mental health) is one of the largest hidden costs, at over $43 billion a year for depression alone. [11]
- The education sector shows one of the steepest declines in mental well-being: 44% of K-12 workers say they always or very often feel burned out at work, the highest rate of any US industry, and 55% of educators are thinking about leaving the profession earlier than planned. [26,27]
Workplace mental healths statistics by identity categories
There’s never a one-size fits all approach to mental health support. All of us struggle with different things, and have different mental well-being needs. It’s important to consider employee well-being on a case-by-case basis
- US women are more likely than men to experience mental illness (26.4% vs 19.7% in the past year). [1]
- Young adults aged 18-25 have the highest prevalence of mental illness of any age group, at 36.2%. [1]
- Half of US adults aged 18-24 reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in 2023, compared with about a third of adults overall. [16]
- Access to care differs sharply by race and ethnicity: 56% of White adults with a mental illness received treatment in the past year, compared with 40% of Hispanic adults, 38% of Black adults, and 36% of Asian adults. [1]
- 30% of LGBTQ+ employees say they are ‘extremely’ stressed on a daily basis compared to less than 2 in 10 of those who do not identify as LGBTQ+. [21]
- 60% of LGBTQ+ employees rate mental health support as ‘highly valuable’. [21]
Therapy is shown to help people cope with underlying feelings of anxiety, fear and stress in the workplace.
More US workplace mental health statistics
- 84% of workers experienced at least one mental health challenge over the last year. [22]
- 71% of working adults reported at least one symptom of stress. [23]
- 68% of millennials and 81% of Gen Zs left their jobs for mental health-related reasons in the last year. [24]
- Only 38% of employees feel comfortable using their company’s mental health services. [25]
Improving mental health in the workplace
- 71% of workers believe their employer is more concerned about the mental health of employees now than in the past. [2]
- 77% of employees say they would feel comfortable if a coworker talked to them about their mental health, suggesting willingness to listen outstrips willingness to disclose. [6]
- 84% of workers say their workplace conditions contributed to at least one mental health challenge in the past year. [13]
- Every $1 invested in scaled-up treatment for depression and anxiety returns around $4 in better health and productivity, due to fewer sick days and higher output. [28]
- Depression alone causes an estimated 200 million lost workdays in the US each year, costing employers $17 billion to $44 billion. [23]
- The global analysis behind the fourfold-return figure estimated $399 billion in productivity gains and $310 billion in improved health from scaled-up treatment. [28]
- 81% of workers say they are satisfied with the mental health support their employer currently provides, but expectations continue to rise. [2]
- Around half of US adults with a mental illness receive no treatment in a given year. Screening helps to identify people who may be susceptible to or experiencing mental health issues, in order to provide targeted support at an early stage and prevent the problem from worsening. [1]
- 92% of workers say it is important to them to work for an organization that values their emotional and psychological well-being. Encouraging open conversations around mental well-being creates a kinder, more psychologically safe work environment. [3]
Other than educating managers, mental health initiatives like having a mental health policy, and access to professional services, simply trying to be more empathetic can go a long way. Hopefully we’ll see more companies prioritizing mental health in the workplace, with happy, healthy teams to show for it.
Spill’s take on mental health at work
When an employee's mental health is flagging, they’re simply not able to do their best work, and they won’t feel good about trying, either. This can have a huge negative impact on the individual themselves, but also on the team around them, and on the company's bottom line.
By focusing on improving employee mental well-being in 2026 you can help your team feel happier and more productive, leading to fewer sick days and improved staff retention.
Workplace mental health resources
For a closer look at how to support employee mental health at work, check out our well-being resources for employers 👇
- The 5 pillars of well-being at work
- How to do a stress at work risk assessment
- Fighting mental health stigma in the workplace
- How to create your own employee well-being survey
- How to manage employee performance and mental health issues
And if you're ready to provide your team with mental health support, here's our take on three popular options 👇
Download our psychological safety questionnaire
Use our template to survey your employees, score their responses and identify areas of focus to develop a culture of psychological safety
See how much it would cost to support your team's mental health with access to qualified therapists in just a few clicks.
