In today’s stress-filled world, a poll conducted by the Japan Productivity Centre found a rise in the proportion of young employees reporting mental health worries connected to their jobs.
The prevalence of mental health concerns among employees in their teens and 20s increased to a record high of 43.9% from 29% reported in 2021, according to a survey given to HR professionals at listed firms. Additionally, the rate among workers in their 30s increased to a record-breaking 26.8%.
In the polls conducted in 2017, 2019, and 2021, the rate of mental stability among employees in their teens and 20s remained reasonably consistent, despite a progressive increase since 2008. The Japan Productivity Centre ascribed the increase to the difficulties encountered by younger workers who joined companies in the midst of the epidemic. Stress levels have increased as a result of their difficulties forming personal relationships and learning critical professional skills while adjusting to distant work arrangements.
The poll revealed a change in the general perspective of mental health in the workplace in addition to personal difficulties. From 2006 to 2021, the proportion of organisations reporting a rise in mental health difficulties has been declining, with a low of 22.9% in that year. But according to the most recent poll, this number has increased to 45%. This rise is accompanied by a decline in the proportion of firms reporting that employee emotional difficulties were either stable or declining.
The Japan Productivity Centre proposed that the reason for this shift in reactions may be the way the epidemic changed people’s work patterns and how they thought about the workplace. According to Nippon.com, the agency highlighted the need to closely watch whether this sudden increase in mental health problems is a transient reaction to these big changes or a harbinger of a longer-term trend.
