The landscape of work has shifted, bringing mental health and stress from the periphery of personal concerns to the forefront of critical organizational priorities. HR.com's latest research, State of Mental Health & Stress in the Workplace 2025, offers an in-depth examination of the prevalence of these challenges and the effectiveness of current organizational interventions.

The Stark Reality

Our findings reveal a workforce under immense pressure. A staggering 61% of survey respondents admit to feeling personally stressed out at work, highlighting a widespread issue that impacts productivity, engagement, and overall well-being.

The Gap in Support

While the need is clear, the solutions often fall short. The report uncovers a significant disparity between the prevalence of stress and mental health challenges and the efficacy of organizational support. Only 28% of organizations are deemed effective at helping employees manage stress, and less than half possess the capacity to effectively assist with broader mental health concerns. This indicates a critical "support gap" that demands immediate attention from HR leaders and business executives alike.

Key Questions Explored in the Full Report

This comprehensive report offers in-depth insights into:

• The true extent of mental health and stress-related issues in contemporary workplaces.
• The actual effectiveness of current organizational strategies in addressing these challenges.
• The primary barriers hindering organizations from providing more robust mental health support.
• How the organizational environment either fosters or impedes mental well-being.
• The various methods organizations employ to measure mental health outcomes.
• Actionable ways mental health service providers can enhance future support offerings.

How Prevalent Are Mental Health and Stress-related Issues in Today’s Workplaces?

Finding: A large majority of organizations deal with stress issues
Our study finds that stress is prevalent in eight out of 10 organizations. Sixty-one percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that they often feel personally stressed out at work. Prolonged stress has negative consequences, including irritability, sleep issues, and forgetfulness. In fact, 43% of adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress.

The study also finds that just 28% believe their organization is effective at helping their employees address stress issues. 

The following chart provides a breakdown of stress prevalence across different organizational sizes.
  Finding: Nearly all mental health lower performers say stress is prevalent in their organizations
While stress is prevalent in both mental health high-performing organizations and lower-performing organizations, the prevalence is much less in mental health high performers compared to lower performers. Respondents from high-performer organizations are also less likely to say they often feel stressed out at work (49% vs. 72%). Not to mention, as defined above, all high performers are effective at dealing with mental health issues compared to none of the lower performers.
   
Finding: Offering mental health benefits is the standard
Mental health is a worldwide issue, with research suggesting 50% of the population will develop at least one mental disorder by age 75. On the bright side, about nine in 10 organizations offer some sort of mental health benefits. However, just offering a program isn’t enough to improve employee mental health; organizations need to put in the effort to ensure their mental health programs are successful.

Finding: An overwhelming majority of employees suffer from burnout/stress
We asked respondents about the most common mental wellness concerns in their organization. The top concerns selected are as follows:
 

• burnout/stress (91%)
• anxiety (87%)
• depression (71%)

Stress in small doses can be a good thing. However, too much stress has negative effects (for example, experiencing burnout). In fact, one study found that a quarter of Americans experience peak burnout before the age of 30. Organizations need to take these high burnout levels seriously, as a Deloitte study found, about half of Gen Z and millennial employees have quit their jobs due to mental health issues.

Anxiety and depression, coming in second and third place, are not surprising. WHO estimates 280 million people have depression and 301 million have anxiety disorders globally. While much fewer cite stigma around mental health (39%), it’s worth mentioning that the number of individuals with anxiety and/or depression may actually be higher because individuals are scared to seek a diagnosis due to the stigma.

How Do Organizations Measure Mental Health?

Finding: The vast majority (91%) of organizations don’t have ways to measure mental health in the workforce
Many employees may hesitate to share their struggles due to the stigma associated with mental health issues, making it difficult to accurately measure mental health and stress levels. In fact, 91% of organizations report having no method to measure mental health, and 86% say the same about tracking stress levels.

Finding: Mental health high performers are more likely to have ways to measure mental health and stress of the workforce
Compared to lower performers, mental health high performers are over seven times more likely to have ways to measure mental health of the workforce. They are also over three times more likely to be able to measure stress levels. However, a majority of both lower and higher performers still struggle likely because it’s hard to get quantitative data around mental health and stress levels. As mentioned earlier, organizations should encourage discussions around mental health to at least get solid qualitative data.

Finding: Surveys are still the most common way to measure mental health and stress levels in an organization
Most organizations (67%) use surveys to measure mental health levels. This was also the top response last year, and we can see why. Surveys are an easy way to collect data quickly. Six in 10 also use employee engagement rates to measure mental health. This makes sense, as McKinsey found those with mental health struggles are twice as likely to report low engagement than those who aren’t struggling.

While just under half (48%) use one-on-one conversations, they can be a useful tool for gauging the mental health of employees. Of course, this requires the employee to trust the supervisor, further stressing the need for manager training on this issue.

How Can Providers Improve Mental Health Services in the Future?

Finding: Nearly two-thirds want products and services related to better employee engagement and higher employee usage rates

What do organizations want to see from mental health providers? Tied for first at 64% are better employee engagement and higher employee usage rates. This shows a clear desire for programs that are not only available but actively used and valued by employees. 

Better communication followed at 56%. Even the strongest programs can fall short if employees are not aware of them or do not understand how to access them. Clear and consistent messaging is essential.

Rounding out the top four, 44% said they want greater flexibility. This points to a need for services that accommodate a variety of employee needs, whether through virtual options, varied hours, or different formats of support.

Finding: One in five respondents don’t believe AI will help with employee mental health management in the near future

While AI is still a hot topic, not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. In fact, one in five respondents don’t believe AI will contribute to mental health management. This could be for several reasons; for example, they may believe AI could exacerbate mental health issues when it replaces human therapists, fostering emotional dependency on unregulated, non-empathic bots.

However, that leaves the majority believing AI will help in improving mental health management over the next few years. The most common ways AI should help mental health management are through reducing workload stress (43%), evaluating program participation rates (40%) and predictive modeling for identifying at-risk employees (39%).

For more insights and key takeaways, download the complete report.
 
 
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