Employee Perception of Current Mental Health Support

Employers provide a range of programs, policies and resources to support mental health.

Most employees report that their employers offer some support for employee mental health.

While no single offering is experienced by the majority, most commonly mentioned is information on employees’ rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act, adequate insurance coverage for mental health services, flexible work schedules and permitted leave of absence for mental health reasons. (Table 19)

Table 19. Awareness of Employer Offerings to Support Employees’ Mental Health

	Information on rights under FMLA	94% Complete	47%
	Adequate insurance for mental health	84% Complete	42%
	Flexible work schedule	78% Complete	39%
	Permitted leave of absence for mental health reasons	72% Complete	36%
	Opportunities to establish a healthy work-life balance	62% Complete	31%
	Fitness options	56% Complete	28%
	Mental health treatment and rehabilitation programs and counseling	54% Complete	27%
	Health promotion and prevention programs	46% Complete	23%
	Written organizational policies protecting employees’ mental health	32% Complete	17%
	Training for leaders on responding promptly and constructively to work performance issues	32% Complete	16%
	On-site mental health support staff	26% Complete	13%
	Other	2% Complete	1%
	My employer doesn’t offer anything to support mental health	32% Complete	16%

Base All qualified respondents (n=1,041)
Q820 Which of the following, if any, does your employer offer employees to support their mental health? Please select all that apply.

Employees take advantage of employer-provided mental health resources and find them useful.

Among the programs, policies and resources offered by their current or past employer, the majority of employees have taken advantage of flexible work schedules (57 percent) and fitness options (53 percent). They have also used health promotion and prevention programs (46 percent) when offered.

Employees report that these offerings have been overwhelmingly helpful.

Table 20: Helpfulness of Employee Offerings Used: % Rated Offering as Very/Somewhat Helpful

	Flexible work schedule	99% Complete	99%
	On-site mental health support staff*	98% Complete	98%
	Mental health treatment and rehabilitation programs and counseling*	97% Complete	97%
	Fitness options	95% Complete	95%
	Permitted leave of absence for mental health reasons*	94% Complete	94%
	Health promotion and prevention programs*	93% Complete	93%
	Information on employees’ rights under Family Medical Leave Act	92% Complete	92%

Base: Used Program (n=varies for each)
Question Q830;* Indicates a small base size (less than n=100 were offered program); use caution when interpreting

Employees are likely to use these mental health supports if the need arises.

Regardless of whether employees have received these supports to date, most say they are likely to use them in the future should an issue emerge that negatively affects their mental health. The programs they say they are most likely to use are flexible work schedules, information about employees’ rights under FMLA, permitted leave of absence for mental health reasons, and fitness options.

Most likely to use in the future:

Flexible work schedules

Information on FMLA

Mental health leave of absence

Fitness options