A quarter of UK workers, equivalent to an estimated 8.5 million people, feel their job has harmed their mental (25 per cent) and physical (24 per cent) health, research has shown.
The CIPD’s Good Work Index 2025, which surveyed 5,000 working people, also revealed that unhealthy work was associated with excessive workloads and pressure, and poor relationships with colleagues and line managers.
The survey found that seven in 10 (69 per cent) employees who said their workload was far too much also said their job had a negative impact on their mental health, in contrast to just 14 per cent of those who said it was about right.
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Additionally, three in five (58 per cent) of those who always or often felt under excessive pressure at work said their role harmed their mental health, compared to only 9 per cent of those who were rarely or never under excessive pressure.
The research also demonstrated a correlation between job satisfaction and mental health – of those who agreed that their work had negatively impacted their mental health, just 37 per cent were satisfied with their job, compared to 93 per cent of those who felt it had a positive impact.
They were also more likely to voluntarily quit their roles in the next 12 months, with a third (34 per cent) of those who felt their job harmed their mental health intending to do so. Only 14 per cent who believed it had a positive impact said the same.
“While certain aspects of job quality have improved for some workers, for a significant minority work isn’t getting better and is negatively impacting their health,” said Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD.
He added that the findings indicated a “real need to look beyond the symptoms of unhealthy work to its root causes”, including job design and workload management, lack of awareness or capabilities in good people management, and a lack of the supportive cultures needed to “help people give their best”.
“There’s a clear business and moral case for prioritising wellbeing at work,” Cheese continued, adding that there were benefits for employers, too: “It’s not just good for individuals, it helps boost employee performance and retention, as well as reducing health-related inactivity in the labour market.”
Rebecca Holt, co-founder and director of Working Mindset, said changes in working practices over the past 10 years and the ‘always on’ culture perpetuated by the pandemic were huge factors in why work was having a negative impact on mental health for so many.
“We hear so often that the culture of constant virtual meetings leaves employees with less time in their day to actually get the work done, meaning that people are catching up outside of hours,” she added. “If this stress is not managed it becomes prolonged and chronic – and there is very robust evidence that this impacts our mental health in a negative way.”
Of the employees surveyed by the CIPD, just under half (46 per cent) experienced a physical health condition in the last 12 months, while 42 per cent experienced a mental health condition. The most common health issues faced by workers were musculoskeletal problems (32 per cent), followed by anxiety (27 per cent), sleep issues (27 per cent) and depression (15 per cent).
However, ONS statistics released last week gave reason for optimism, finding that the sickness absence rate (the percentage of working hours lost because of sickness or injury) fell to 2 per cent in 2024, down by 0.3 percentage points from 2023.
An estimated 148.9 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in 2024, equivalent to 4.4 days lost per worker, the figures showed. This comes as The CIPD’s annual Working Lives Scotland report, based on a survey of 1,018 people, found that more than one in four Scottish workers (26 per cent), equivalent to around 690,000 people, say their job negatively affects their mental health.
Among those affected, over a third (34 per cent) are considering leaving their roles within the next year. The survey also revealed that 59 per cent of respondents experience excessive pressure at work either frequently or occasionally, while 64 per cent report feeling exhausted either all or some of the time.
What can HR do to tackle the issue?
Lisa Seagroatt, founder and managing director of HR Fit for Purpose, said poor mental and physical health would “often start with poor engagement as employees mentality ‘check out’, culminating in presenteeism, absenteeism and performance issues – all of which affect productivity and profitability”.
“HR has a difficult but clear role to play here in educating leadership teams about their duty of care to their people,” she added. “This is often best tackled by setting out the associated risks to any business of failing to protect and care for the people you are responsible for and providing training, along with a clean policy approach to workplace health and wellbeing.”
The CIPD’s research also demonstrated that use of AI could have a positive impact on employees’ mental health. While just 16 per cent said they have had tasks automated, 85 per cent of these employees said this has improved their performance, with these workers also reporting greater job satisfaction and a more positive impact of work on their mental health.
For more information on this topic, read the CIPD’s factsheet on mental health in the workplace
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