It’s not just you. Workplace stress is at a breaking point and starting to manifest in some alarming ways. Overstressed workers are now crying, having panic attacks, and even using substances to cope with work stress while on the job in strikingly high numbers.
A new report from Modern Health, a mental health platform offered as an employee benefit, surveyed on a random sample of 1,000 workers at companies of 250 or more employees. It found that employees are deeply stressed, feel largely unsupported, and that it’s all bubbling over to the point that it’s impacting their behavior at work.
For many workers, AI fears are driving their stress levels. Two-thirds say AI has raised the bar in terms of what’s expected of them day-to-day and 64% say their stress has ticked up as a result. One in four employees say that AI is actually harming their mental health.
The stress is changing the way employees show up at work: 63% report using alcohol, THC, or prescribed pharmaceuticals to unwind once they are home for the day. A staggering 52% said they’ve used substances at the office over the past year.
Employees are also having more meltdowns than they did just a year ago. Per the report, 51% of employees said they’ve cried at the office within the last 30 days alone. That’s up 12 points from last year’s survey. Likewise, 52% say they’ve experienced an anxiety or panic attack at work.
Often, this is the result of employees feeling bogged down with work but unable to set boundaries or take breaks. Case in point, 72% said they felt pressure to work through their mental health strains (up 10 points from the previous year). The same number said their employer prioritizes productivity over wellbeing. And over half (57%) said they felt pressure to respond to work messages outside of work hours.
When employees feel like they can never log off, the lines between what they bring home and what they bring back to work get very blurred. As such, workplace stress is reshaping behavior in ways employers can’t afford to ignore.
