The employee benefits director at MetLife UK said employers had started recognising the need to provide greater support, but there was still some way to go.
He backed up his claims with statistics from the health insurance company that showed up to one in five employees have taken time off due to stress-related illness in the past year. This makes it the biggest cause of absence in the workplace ahead of family illness and matched only by bereavement.
Some two-thirds of staff surveyed for the research also said they would welcome more help and advice from their employers on how to boost their health.
Encouragingly, 61 per cent of employees said they received some health and wellness support in the workplace. However, only 13 per cent have income protection policies that insure them for long periods of absence from work.
Earlier this year Paul Davis, marketing director at Canada Life, was more critical about the treatment of employees. He said businesses were simply “not prioritising” the health and wellbeing of their workforce.
Canada Life’s poll found a quarter of employees received no workplace benefits and only 42 per cent received support to maintain their physical and emotional health.
Furthermore, more than one in eight workers said they had been shunned by their employer when they asked for help with stress-related problems.
Adviser view
Malcolm Steel, chartered financial planner at Edinburgh-based Mearns & Company, said: “There is an ongoing transfer of responsibility from the state to individuals in many financial areas, and there is also shared burden between staff and employers. The problem is that companies must steer clear of discussing income protection in case it veers into financial advice – but the employer has a responsibility and duty to encourage a healthy working environment.”
