More Than One in 10 Americans Resigned During the Pandemic Due to Increased Stress at Work

LifeWorks, a leading provider of digital total wellbeing solutions, released its monthly Mental Health Index, revealing a negative mental-health score among Americans for the 18^th consecutive month.

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Key findings:

• Overall mental-health score of -3.8 compared to the pre-pandemic benchmark, marking the first decline after four consecutive months of improvement.
• In the latest survey, nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) reported that they are either considering or are unsure about leaving their current job. These groups also reported a mental-health score more than 11-points worse than those who are not considering leaving their jobs.
• The 17 percent of respondents who indicated that they are considering resigning from their job are reporting the lowest mental-health score (-16.1).
• Sixteen percent of respondents have resigned due to changes in their physical health and this group has among the least favorable mental-health scores (-24.7).

Older employees more likely to consider resigning due to feeling underappreciated:

• Older employees are feeling underappreciated in the workplace at a disproportionate rate, with eight percent of respondents between the ages of 40-69 citing lack of appreciation as the reason for considering resignation, compared to three percent of those aged 20-39.
• Among all respondents, those under 40 years old are more than twice as likely to consider resigning from their job than respondents over 50 years old.
• Parents are more than four times more likely than non-parents to report resigning during the pandemic.

Comments from president and chief executive officer, Stephen Liptrap
“Employees have faced incredible challenges over the last year and a half, both inside and outside of the workplace. As many continue to experience the increased mental stress related to work, resignations are an inevitable consequence that is becoming a harsh reality for many organizations. Employers need to recognize an increasing condition of employment for Americans is to provide ongoing resources facilitating a culture that supports individual mental health needs. Employees are the backbone of any organization and prioritizing employee wellbeing is critical in order to retain talent.”

Nearly half of Americans have not been asked by their employer about working preferences, contributing to poorer mental health:

• Nearly half (46 percent) of respondents report that their employer has not asked them about their working preferences for the post-pandemic workplace.
• Over one-third (35 percent) of respondents report that their employer has asked them about their working preferences.
• Managers are twice as likely as non-managers to report that their employer has asked about working preferences.

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Comments from global leader and senior vice president, research and total wellbeing, Paula Allen

“Our research indicates a clear connection between feeling valued at work and favorable mental health across the United States. Part of feeling valued is being heard and showing appreciation. We were surprised to see that mid and later career individuals were the most likely to consider resigning as a result of feeling underappreciated. There is a lot of focus on younger employees now, which is important, but that should not mean older employees are taken for granted.”

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