Our research shows only 1 in 10 employees say they’d feel comfortable talking about their anxiety and mental health to their bosses.

That was sad before the pandemic, now it’s tragic.

In researching our new book Anxiety at Work, we found mental health issues in the office were a serious problem before Covid-19 arrived, but there is compelling data from the Culture Think Tank to show that anxiety levels have risen significantly in the last year, and it’s affecting performance.

Culture Think Tank is a firm that measures culture and well-being in organizations. Founder Delise Simmons is former head of learning and development for Southwest Airlines and was a founding member of JetBlue Airways. This savvy researcher says that during the pandemic she has noted:

• Every organization in her company’s database has seen an increase in employees describing themselves as feeling “anxious.”
• The scores on an organization’s Well-Being Index decline as anxiety increases (the Index predicts the well-being of the individuals within the organization).
• This data matches statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which shows that pre-Covid 1 in 10 adults in the United States experienced anxiety serious enough to be diagnosed and/or treated; but during Covid that number has risen to 4 in 10 adults.

Those are extremely compelling numbers, and yet still workers hesitate finding help at work.

So, what can leaders do? Delise and her team have polled employees, asking what they would like leadership to start, stop and continuing doing. With respect to anxiety, here is what they said:

START: Balancing the workload so we don’t suffer from burnout.

STOP: Setting unrealistic expectations or providing inconsistent direction.

CONTINUE: Offering encouragement and support.

And there’s the tie to Gratitude!

When you look at the start, stop and continue advice from employees, it comes down to caring, checking in regularly, and letting people know their work matters. If there is an exclamation point to these ideas, it’s when someone does a good job their boss notices and says a specific, meaningful thank you.

Let’s face it, we all do better work when we know our work is valued. In times like these, the role of gratitude in our work relationships is more important than ever.

And now the data proves it out.

Chester Elton