One third of employees say they felt more comfortable talking about mental health over the past 12 months than ever before, while 6 in 10 believe people will be more comfortable talking about their mental health in the future. Despite this, just 1 in 10 made use of counselling services during the pandemic, demonstrating a disconnect in comfort levels between talking about mental health and actively accessing support services. 

This was revealed through new multi-market research carried out by Ipsos MRBI on behalf of Allianz Partners. The research was conducted amongst expat and local employees in the UK, Germany, Canada, UAE and Singapore with the aim of measuring the impact of Covid-19 on respondents’ mental health and helping employers understand how best to support the mental health of their teams.

The research highlighted the importance of employers investing in health and wellbeing supports and services to ensure a sustainable and productive workforce, as many staff are still dealing with the mental health challenges of the pandemic. Although it’s evident that employers across the globe have been stepping up to provide support, a lot more can be done to ensure employees are using and reaping the benefits of these supports. Depression and anxiety cost the global economy USD 1 trillion a year in lost productivity¹. Providing appropriate mental health support to employees improves not only the employee’s quality of life but also increases companies’ productivity.
 

It’s clear from the research that awareness of mental health has increased and people are more comfortable talking about it and this is extremely encouraging. However not all employees feel supported and there’s still a very low up-take of some mental health services like EAP and counselling. I think there’s a real opportunity here for employers to build on their mental health support programmes and make some significant strides forward”

Allianz Partners is a world leader in B2B2C insurance and assistance, offering global solutions that span international health and life, travel insurance, automotive and assistance. Customer driven, our innovative experts are redefining insurance services by delivering future-ready, high-tech high-touch products and solutions that go beyond traditional insurance. Our products are embedded seamlessly into our partners’ businesses or sold directly to customers, and are available through four commercial brands: Allianz Assistance, Allianz Automotive, Allianz Travel and Allianz Care. Present in 75 countries, our 21,500 employees speak 70 languages, handle over 71 million cases each year, and are motivated to go the extra mile to help and protect our customers around the world.

For more information, please visit: www.allianz-partners.com