There’s a huge opportunity for employers to play a more active role in shaping the culture of their business. To do this, they need a holistic view of workforce health. The Cigna 360 health and wellbeing survey provides deeper insight into the challenges and opportunities.

The UK faces unmanageable stress

Cigna’s research shows that eight in ten people are experiencing stress, with one in five saying that they have ‘unmanageable stress’.

In the UK, work is the number one cause of stress, with more than a quarter (26%) of stress sufferers reporting work as the reason. Other typical sources of stress such as finances, family issues and health problems cause people in the UK less stress than their working lives.

While more than eight in ten (84%) people have suffered a mental health condition at some point in their lives, only a quarter of them received support from their employer. Stigma and lack of support for mental health continue to be a concern in the workplace, and half of employees with an emotional wellbeing concern were too embarrassed to admit they had a problem. 

Workplace wellbeing programmes need to step up

Three in five survey respondents don’t have access to a formal workplace wellbeing programme so there’s a huge opportunity for employers to play a more active role. This can take the shape of providing much sought after benefits to support employee health and wellbeing and- by offering workplace wellbeing programmes to help employees better manage their levels of stress.

The 360 survey shows that despite people wanting more help, the UK is lagging behind other countries in offering workplace wellbeing support. But the good news is that employers are beginning to recognise the cost of poor mental health at work and the breadth of impact this can have on their employees and business.

We can help employers tackle this issue. We were first in the UK to launch a self-referral pathway for fast access to emotional wellbeing support and early intervention care. Our proactive approach helps employers move towards an emotionally supportive culture in the workplace.

 Download our whitepaper to read more about out 360 health and wellbeing survey results.