Strained employee mental health in Asia: 45% surveyed say it is impacting productivity

source: HumanResoucesOnline

18 September 2023 Author:Arina Sofiah

Employees from Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, and Thailand were most likely to say so.

The mental health of Asia’s working population is strained — and work-related exhaustion, burnout, and financial insecurity are among the likely causes.

Other factors Aon and TELUS Health's joint 2022-2023 Global Wellbeing Survey possibly attributes this to also include cost-of-living challenges, rising healthcare costs, climate change impacts, geopolitical instability, and the increasingly complex and ambiguous nature of today’s workplace, which has been changing rapidly since COVID-19.

Data for the report was collected in November 2022 via an online survey of 13,000 people living across China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Participants represented a range of ages, genders and industries, and were asked to consider the prior two weeks when answering the questions.

To gauge the Asia Mental Health Index, a scoring system was applied to turn individual responses into point values. Higher point values are associated with better mental health and lower mental health risk. An overall Mental Health Index score (MHI) out of 100 is generated by dividing the sum of scores by the total number of possible points, with scores between 80 and 100 indicating optimal mental health and mental health risk, and scores below 80 representing ‘strained’ or ‘distressed’ mental health and higher mental health risk.

With a score of 62.4, the Asia Mental Health Index revealed that employees in Asia are under significant mental health strain in every location involved in the study. Organisations in the Asia Pacific region particularly rated employee wellbeing among their top two concerns and identify mental health and burnout as the top two wellbeing issues that need addressing.

Overall, the most prevalent mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, are estimated to cost the global economy US$1tn per year in reduced productivity, and before the pandemic those costs were predicted to rise to US$6tn by 2030. This year, it was estimated that the total economic burden of lost productivity due to anxiety and depression in Singapore is S$15.7bn (US$11.72bn) annually.

At the same time, 82% of workers in Asia have a moderate to high risk of experiencing mental health issues. Breaking this figure down, 35% have a high risk of experiencing a mental health issue. Of this, 30% are highly likely to develop a mental health issue.

Locations identified with the highest proportion of employees with a high mental health risk profile are:

South Korea 44%

Malaysia 42%

Japan 41%

Conversely, Indonesia had the lowest proportion of employees with high mental risk, at 17%.

The Asia Mental Health Index also explores measures known as ‘sub-scores’ to reveal a more nuanced picture of mental health and mental health risk in the workplace, and potential impacts. In Asia, the lowest sub-score is for work productivity, representing a significant financial risk to organisations.

Work productivity — Asia: 47.2 vs Mutli-regional: 63.1

Anxiety — Asia: 51.7 vs Mutli-regional: 56.71

Depression — Asia: 54.5 vs Mutli-regional: 62.5

Financial risk — Asia: 63.3 vs Mutli-regional: 69.5

For context, the report refers to the 'multi region' as Canada, the US, the UK, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.

Work productivity

Strained mental health and moderate to high mental health risk have a significant negative effect on workplace productivity, which is far lower in Asia than in the multi region.

In fact, 45% of employees say their mental health is having an impact on productivity, with seven locations reporting higher than average productivity losses for Asia. Locations where the highest proportion of employees say their mental health is impacting work productivity are:

Malaysia 62%

Philippines 60%

India 53%

Vietnam 53%

Thailand 50%

Anxiety

According to the study, there is a very high risk of anxiety, depression and burnout among Asia’s working population. Overall, 36% of employees in Asia say they feel unsettled and nervous.

Anxiety levels are highest in:

Malaysia 45%

India 43%

Philippines 41%

South Korea 41%

Depression

Over one in three workers (33%) often feel a sense of helplessness. Locations where workers are experiencing higher levels of helplessness include:

South Korea 46%

Malaysia 44%

India 43%

Financial risk

Financial wellbeing refers to how people feel about the control they have over their financial future and their relationship with money.

In Asia, 34% of employees say they do not have emergency savings ‘Emergency savings’ typically means having a minimum of three months salary set aside for unexpected expenses. Locations where employees have the highest levels of financial risk are:

Philippines 48%

Malaysia 42%

China 39%

Looking at the key aspects of mental health, over half of the respondents feel more sensitive to stress compared to last year. This group also has the poorest mental health and the highest mental health risk with a Mental Health Index Score of 53.9. Nine of the twelve countries report that more than half the workforce is feeling more sensitive to stress than last year. Employees most likely to report feeling more sensitive to stress are in:

Malaysia 57%

Taiwan 54%

Thailand 54%

At the same time, burnout is work related and materialises during periods of sustained stress, driven by excessive workloads, lack of rewards, perceived lack of support, unreasonable expectations and toxic work environments — 33% of employees say they are finding it more difficult to concentrate on their work compared to last year. The Mental Health Index score of this group is 49.7, significantly below the Asia average of 62.4.

Locations most likely to have employees report difficultly concentrating on their work compared to last year:

India 45%

Malaysia 40%

Thailand 39%

Vietnam 39%

The survey also provided insights by markets:

China

The Mental Health Index score for China is 60.6, indicating that the mental health of employees there is strained. The score is 1.8 points lower average for Asia.

34% feel anxious,

33% feel depressed, and

33% feel isolated.

Hong Kong

The Mental Health Index score for Hong Kong is 59.9, indicating that the mental health of employees there is strained. The score is 2.5 points lower than the median.

39% feel anxious,

33% feel depressed, and

32% feel isolated.

India

The Mental Health Index score for India is 64, indicating that the mental health of employees there is strained despite being 1.6 points higher than the median.

44% feel isolated,

43% feel anxious, and

43% feel depressed.

Indonesia

The Mental Health Index score for Indonesia is 69.4, indicating the mental health of employees in Indonesia is strained despite being seven points above the median.

23% feel isolated,

20% feel anxious, and

14% feel depressed.

Malaysia

The Mental Health Index score for Malaysia is 59.6, indicating that employees’ mental health there is strained. The score is 2.9 points lower than the median.

45% feel anxious,

44% feel depressed, and

40% feel isolated.

Philippines

The Mental Health Index score for the Philippines is 65, indicating that employees’ mental health there is strained but 2.6 points higher than the median for Asia.

41% feel anxious,

35% feel isolated, and

32% feel depressed.

Singapore

The Mental Health Index score for Singapore is 63.2, indicating that employees’ mental health there is strained. The score is 0.8 points higher than the median.

33% feel anxious,

32% feel isolated, and

31% feel depressed.

Thailand

The Mental Health Index score for Thailand is 66.4, indicating that employees’ mental health there is strained despite being 4 points higher than the median.

36% feel anxious,

26% feel isolated, and

24% feel depressed.

Vietnam

The Mental Health Index score for Vietnam is 63.6, indicating that employees’ mental health there is strained. The score is 1.2 points higher than the median.

40% feel isolated,

36% feel anxious, and

33% feel depressed.

亞洲僱員精神緊張：45%受訪者表示影響生產力

馬來西亞、菲律賓、印度、越南和泰國僱員最大機會這樣說。

亞洲僱員的精神緊張，與工作相關的疲憊、怠倦和財政不穩都是可能的原因。

怡安集團與TELUS Health聯合進行的《2022-2023全球健康調查》指出，其他可能因素包括生活成本挑戰、醫療成本上升、氣候變化影響、地緣政治不穩、以及當今職場自新冠疫情以來迅速變得日益複雜和不明朗。

該報告於2022年11月通過網上調查，收集13,000名居住在中國、香港、印度、印尼、日本、南韓、馬來西亞、菲律賓、新加坡、台灣、泰國和越南的受訪者數據。受訪者涵蓋不同年齡、性別和行業，並要求他們根據受訪前兩週的情況作答。

為衡量亞洲精神健康指數，該調查採用了一套計分機制，得分較高代表精神健康良好和精神健康風險較低。精神健康指數（MHI）總分為100分，80至100分代表精神健康良好和精神健康風險較低，低於80分代表精神「緊張」和「困擾」和精神健康風險較高。

亞洲的精神健康指數為62.4分，顯示所有受訪亞洲地區的僱員均面臨嚴重的精神壓力。亞太區的企業尤其將員工健康列為兩大最關心議題，並將精神健康和怠倦視為兩大最需要解決的重要健康議題。

整體而言，抑鬱和焦慮等最普遍的精神健康狀況，預計每年為全球經濟造成1萬億美元的生產力損失，疫情前更預計損失將於2030年增至6萬億美元。據今年估計，新加坡由於抑鬱和焦慮所導致的生產力損失每年達157億新元（117.2億美元）。

與此同時，82%的亞洲僱員有中至高等程度的精神健康風險。細分來看，35%的人有較高精神健康風險，其中30%人極有可能形成精神健康問題。

僱員面臨高精神健康風險比例最高的地區是：

南韓 44%

馬來西亞 42%

日本 41%

相反，印尼僱員面臨高精神健康風險的比例最低，為17%。

亞洲精神健康指數亦採用稱為「分項分數」的衡量標準，更仔細揭示職場精神健康和精神健康風險以及潛在影響。亞洲分項分數最低的是生產力，這為企業帶來重大的財政風險。

生產力 — 亞洲：47.2 vs 多地區：63.1

焦慮 — 亞洲：51.7 vs 多地區：56.71

抑鬱 — 亞洲：54.5 vs 多地區：62.5

財政風險 — 亞洲：63.3 vs 多地區：69.5

該報告中的「多地區」是指加拿大、美國、英國、歐洲、紐西蘭和澳洲。

生產力

精神緊張和中至高度精神健康風險對職場生產力造成顯著的負面影響，當中亞洲的生產力遠低於多地區。

事實上，45%的僱員表示，他們的精神健康狀況正影響其生產力，其中七個地區的生產力損失高於亞洲平均水平。最多僱員表示精神健康正影響生產力的地區是：

馬來西亞 62%

菲律賓 60%

印度 53%

越南 53%

泰國 50%

焦慮

研究表明，亞洲勞動人口出現焦慮、抑鬱和怠倦的風險非常高。整體而言，36%的亞洲僱員表示他們感到不安和緊張。

焦慮水平最高的是：

馬來西亞 45%

印度 43%

菲律賓 41%

南韓 41%

抑鬱

超過三分之一的僱員（33%）經常感到無助。較多僱員感到無助的地區包括：

南韓 46%

馬來西亞 44%

印度 43%

財政風險

財政健康是指人們對自己控制未來財政狀況的能力、以及與金錢的關係的感受。

亞洲有34%的僱員表示他們沒有儲備「應急錢」，通常是指預留至少三個月的薪金以應付意外開支。僱員財政風險最高的地區是：

菲律賓 48%

馬來西亞 42%

中國 39%

從精神健康關鍵方面來看，與去年相比，超過一半的受訪者對壓力更加敏感。該群體的精神健康狀況最差，精神健康風險最高，精神健康指數為53.9分。12個國家中，有9個國家表示超過一半的勞動力比去年對壓力更加敏感。僱員最大可能覺得對壓力更加敏感的地區是：

馬來西亞 57%

台灣 54%

泰國 54%

與此同時，怠倦與工作息息相關，並在面對持續壓力期間顯現，原因是工作量過大、缺乏獎勵、認為缺乏支持、不合理的期望和有毒的工作環境，33%的僱員表示，他們較去年難以集中精神工作。該群體的精神健康指數為49.7分，顯著低於亞洲平均水平62.4分。

與去年相比，僱員最大可能難以集中精神工作的地區：

印度 45%

馬來西亞 40%

泰國 39%

越南 39%

該調查亦提供各市場的情況：

中國

中國的精神健康指數為60.6分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較亞洲中位數低1.8分。

34%感到焦慮；

33%感到抑鬱；以及

33%感到孤立。

香港

香港的精神健康指數為59.9分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較中位數低2.5分。

39%感到焦慮；

33%感到抑鬱；以及

32%感到孤立。

印度

印度的精神健康指數為64分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較中位數高1.6分。

44%感到孤立；

43%感到焦慮；以及

43%感到抑鬱。

印尼

印尼的精神健康指數為69.4分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較中位數高7分。

23%感到孤立；

20%感到焦慮；以及

14%感到抑鬱。

馬來西亞

馬來西亞的精神健康指數為59.6分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較中位數低2.9分。

45%感到焦慮；

44%感到抑鬱；以及

40%感到孤立。

菲律賓

菲律賓的精神健康指數為65分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較亞洲中位數高2.6分。

41%感到焦慮；

35%感到孤立；以及

3

2%感到抑鬱。

新加坡

新加坡的精神健康指數為63.2分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較中位數高0.8分。

33%感到焦慮；

32%感到孤立；以及

31%感到抑鬱。

泰國

泰國的精神健康指數為66.4分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較中位數高4分。

36%感到焦慮；

26%感到孤立；以及

24%感到抑鬱。

越南

越南的精神健康指數為63.6分，表明僱員精神緊張。 分數較中位數高1.2分。

40%感到孤立；

36%感到焦慮；以及

33%感到抑鬱。