Anxiety on the rise as employers fail to meet mental health needs 

Findings from the conference speaking agency show a mere 16% of staff at 150 companies received adequate mental health support at work, while more than half of those surveyed continued to suffer from ‘severe anxiety’ over the past year as a direct impact of their jobs.

Fintan O’Toole, Director and owner of the HR Dept South London says the issue is not confined to work, and that “employees may well bring anxiety related to wider issues from their homes and community into the workplace. For example, MIND report that over half of those who said they’ve been negatively affected by the cost of living crisis say it’s made them more anxious."

Anxiety over public speaking is also affecting career progression with 39% actively avoiding leadership roles in company-wide meetings and 31% avoiding leading team meetings as a result. 29% would pass on a promotion to avoid a presenting or public speaking scenario and 19% would avoid asking for a raise in a review meeting for the same reason.

O’Toole said, “As with any health condition, if anxiety remains unrecognised and unsupported it may have a negative impact on performance, and consequently employees may not feel able to put themselves forward for new opportunities. Good performance management within a company including clear objective setting, review and appraisals will assist managers in getting the best out of all their employees, and identify where additional support would be useful."

Social anxiety in the workplace has been consistently rising over the past three years. In a review of employee search terms ‘social anxiety symptoms’ has become more commonplace with an increase of 29% this year from last year. In the last 10 years this has risen overall by 39%.

Many staff are now calling for improvements to be made with 46% asking for greater flexibility around workloads and commitments. While 28% complain of not having an open culture on mental health, stating they’re not comfortable raising issues with their manager or HR,18% of UK employers are also failing to implement a clear mental health policy and standard practices.

Offering advice to those struggling with public speaking, Tom McLaughlin, public speaking expert and Director at JLA, says it can be a daunting task, but states the importance of proper preparation. "With regular practice, you will naturally gain confidence in your speaking ability, and combat anxiety. 

As obvious as it may seem, don’t forget to breathe. Developing an awareness of your breathing calms your nerves, and understanding the physical changes you can make to affect your nervousness is vital in controlling your anxiety.”

O’Toole advises training managers to raise awareness of mental health and to explain different working practices for management to use to offer support to colleagues, which, he says, would have mutually beneficial mental health outcomes.