Rebound: Employee mental health, stress showing improvement in recent months

Although many Americana experienced loneliness, worry about losing a loved one and stress, most are now reporting better mental health.

The entertainment/hospitality industry took the biggest hit—mental health is rated worse now (55% of respondents saying it is excellent or good) than during the early part of the pandemic. (Photo: Shutterstock)

The mental wellness of workers in the US suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic but is bouncing back, a new survey from Travelers has found.

The Travelers Mental Wellness Checkup was a survey of 2,000 employed adults across the U.S., and discovered that although many American workers experienced loneliness, worry about losing a loved one, and stress, most are now reporting better mental health. The survey found that 73% or respondents described their current mental health as excellent or good – up from 67% in the early months of the pandemic.

Related: Keep an ear to the ground: How employers can stay on top of employees’ mental health needs

The study has implications for employer-based health insurance, but also for property/casualty policies, according to officials with the company, which is a leading provider of P&C insurance for businesses in the U.S.

“Understanding an employee’s mental health plays an important role in managing workplace injuries,” said Dr. Marcos Iglesias, Vice President and Chief Medical Director at Travelers. “The pandemic has likely affected the many psychosocial factors that can complicate the healing process and delay the time it takes to recover from a physical injury. It’s encouraging to see workers’ mental health trending back toward pre-pandemic levels because when employees are in a good mental state, they are safer, more productive and can often recuperate quicker if they do get hurt.”

Mental health: Not as good as pre-pandemic, but improving for most

The survey, conducted in March of this year, asked workers to rate their mental health from before, during, and after the pandemic began in early 2020. Across most industries, majorities said their mental health was excellent or good before the pandemic (69% to 94%, depending on the industry), took a significant dip during the pandemic (59% to 79%), and is now generally somewhere between those two points (55% to 91%).

The entertainment/hospitality industry took the biggest hit—mental health is rated worse now (55% of respondents saying it is excellent or good) than during the early part of the pandemic (60%). The construction industry saw very little change over the past year: 71% of respondents rated their mental health good or excellent now, compared to 72%  during the pandemic.

In every other industry, there has been both a decline and a rebound, the best numbers coming from IT (91% excellent or good ratings both before the pandemic and now, after a low of 79% during the pandemic). The retail segment, which saw many jobs affected by the pandemic, actually had less variation than some industries: 69% of respondents reported good or excellent mental health before the pandemic, 60% good or excellent during, and 64% good or excellent in March of this year.

More stress during the pandemic

The report found that significant numbers of workers reported being worried or stressed during the past year. Nearly half of respondents said work has caused them to experience stress (48%) and anxiety (42%) in the past year, while about one-third (31%) said that work did not cause them to experience any of the mental health issues listed in the survey.

That stress was experienced in different ways; the survey found that the top five areas where employees said their stress got worse during the pandemic were:

There was also some generational difference in reported stress during the pandemic: millennials reported the highest level of increased work-related stress (32%); baby boomers reported the highest level of increased personal stress (39%). Gen Xers appeared to be the least affected: only 28% reported increased stress at work, while 35% reported increased personal stress. These were the lowest numbers for any generational group.

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