How anxiety is leading to employees shrinking back from responsibilities

How anxiety is leading to employees shrinking back from responsibilities

A new study from JLA suggests 55% of UK employees have experienced ‘severe anxiety’ due to work in the past year. As a practical consequence, 39% admitted to actively avoiding taking on a leadership role in company meetings; 31% didn’t want to lead team meetings.

At the root of the issues is said to be ‘a lack of trust’ in employers. Only 16% said they believed they were receiving the right level of mental health support in the workplace. 

Judgement days

In spite of the range of initiatives and widespread discussion of mental health, research continues to show how employees believe their careers will be negatively affected.

A survey from Reed of more than 2,000 employees and job-seekers has claimed that around a quarter would not talk about mental health issues at work; 36% felt too exposed and vulnerable; 39% believed they would be judged negatively.

More than first aid

EAPA UK Chair, Karl Bennett said: “Anxiety typically destroys confidence, and that means real consequences both for people in their careers and for organisations themselves in terms of team working and performance. A culture where there’s a lack of openness, a sense of a lack of trust and understanding will always be damaging — whether they involve people dealing with issues of anxiety or not.

”The current trend of support for mental health first-aiders is important in terms of making sure employees feel they have someone they can talk to in the first instance, who can signpost them to other forms of help. But signals from research indicate that people aren’t always certain they can trust anyone in their workplace with such a sensitive and personal topic.

“And even more importantly, mental health first-aiders aren’t intended and aren’t equipped to do anything more than signpost. The foundation of trust is access to the kinds of professional, confidential support offered via an EAP.”