39% of workers have quit a job to save their mental health

AI career app Kickresume has surveyed over 1,000 workers around the world to learn about their opinions on mental health benefits and their thoughts and experiences about mental health at work. 

Key findings included:

• 80% of workers say their job negatively impacts their mental health 

• 39% of employees have left a job for the sake of their mental health, while 33% have considered this

• Asked to choose one workplace benefit that would reduce their stress, 33% of employees said they would choose flexible working, compared to 19% who would choose mental health benefits like assistance paying for therapy

• 70% of workers would choose a job with good mental health benefits rather than one without them that had higher pay.

Firstly, Kickresume asked workers how they felt their job affected their mental health. Overall, 80% said it had a negative effect. The most common effect mentioned by the survey’s participants was stress, with 34% saying work stressed them out. 23% said their mood after work was affected, and a further 23% said they had reached a state of burnout. However, 8% said their job didn’t affect their mental health and 11% said it in fact made them feel better.

Mid (35%) and senior level (35%) employees were more likely than entry level workers (30%) to say they felt stressed out. They were also less likely to say work helped their mental health, with 16% of entry level employees providing this answer compared to 11% of mid and 10% of senior level workers.

Kickresume also asked the survey’s respondents if they had ever made the decision to quit a job in order to protect their mental health. Nearly four in ten did, at 39% - and a further 33% said that while they had never done this, they had seriously considered it before. The remaining 28% said they had never considered taking this step. 

Mid level employees were the most likely to have quit a job for the sake of their mental health, at 44% - entry level employees were the least likely, at 36%.

Women were nearly 10% more likely than men to have left a job for this reason, with 46% of women compared to 37% of men. But men are more likely to have considered it without making the leap, at 34% compared to 31% of women. 

The survey asked workers to share whether they had ever accessed mental health benefits at their job. Nearly two thirds at 62% said they had never taken advantage of these benefits at a current or previous job. 18% had used mental benefits a few times, and an equal percentage had either used them many times or only on a single occasion at 10%.

There was a gender difference in the data, with 64% of men never using mental health benefits compared to 59% of women. Women were also more likely to have accessed these benefits multiple times, at 14% compared to only 8% of men.

The study also investigated what mental health benefits were available to workers. 40% of employees said they hadn’t been offered any of these benefits. The most common benefit available was an Employee Assistance Programme, which nearly a third said was offered to them, at 30%. 21% could access a paid-for subscription to a wellbeing app, and 20% said they could use insurance coverage for mental health services. 15% of employees said they could access on-demand virtual therapy, and 14% had paid mental health days they could choose to use. 13% could join workplace mental health support groups, and the two least common benefits were therapy reimbursement (8%) and sabbaticals (7%). 

Kickresume asked which of these benefits people had accessed, and the two most commonly used were subscriptions to well-being apps and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), both at 17%. 14% of workers had used their workplace insurance to cover mental health services, while 13% had taken a paid mental health day. Virtual on-demand therapy appointments had been accessed by 12% of employees, and 10% had joined workplace mental health support groups. Only 7% had accessed therapy reimbursement and 5% had taken a sabbatical. Nearly half of the people surveyed had not used any of these benefits, at 49%. 

The survey asked respondents to choose one benefit that would improve their wellbeing at work. By far the most popular was flexible working arrangements, at 33%. 21% chose more paid time off, slightly higher than the 19% who chose mental health benefits. 9% said they wanted career development opportunities and the same percentage would prefer paid gym membership. 3% said they would like childcare support, a better office space, or any other benefit than mental health support. 

38% of women said they would choose flexible working compared to 31% of men. 

Kickresume asked how important people felt it was for companies to offer mental health benefits. 71% agreed that it was either “pretty important” (37%) or “super important” (34%). 20% were neutral and 9% said it was not that important.

Lastly, Kickresume asked the survey’s respondents to choose between a job with great mental health benefits, like therapy reimbursement and paid mental health days, or a higher paying job without - 70% said they would pick the job with the mental health benefits. 

Peter Duris, CEO and Co-Founder of Kickresume comments:

“It was worrying to see that such a high percentage of workers had either left or strongly considered leaving their jobs due to mental health concerns, at a total of 72%. Your job can have a massive impact on your wellbeing. After all, it’s where most people spend nearly a third of their waking life. For almost 80%, stress and exhaustion from the workday negatively impacts their mental health.

“While 62% of people have not taken advantage of mental health benefits at their job, 71% say it’s important that they are on offer. However, 40% of workers said they'd never been offered any mental health benefits. This might be something companies could use to give their employees more peace of mind, knowing that the support is there if they need it.”