The proportion of younger workers needing time off for stress has grown compared with older colleagues, according to a report on burnout which also revealed far fewer feel comfortable opening up to bosses about the pressure they are under.
While around one in 10 workers aged 45 and above needed time off last year because of poor mental health caused by stress, it was around one in three for those aged 18-24, Mental Health UK said.
The charity’s second annual Burnout Report found this was the case for around 29% of workers aged 25-34 last year, up from 23% the previous year; and a quarter (25%) of 35 to 44-year-olds, up from a fifth in 2023.
Among 18 to 24-year-olds the proportion saw a smaller rise, from 34% to 35% last year.
In contrast, a smaller proportion of older workers said they were taking time off for stress – some 14% of 45 to 54-year-olds, down from 18% the previous year, and 10% of workers aged 55 and above, down from 15%.
In what the charity described as a “warning sign of a breakdown in trust between employers and younger workers”, its findings showed only a little over half (56%) of 18 to 24-year-olds said they would feel comfortable opening up to a line manager about the pressure and stress they felt.
This was a sharp drop from 75% of this age group in the previous report.
Younger workers were most likely to feel stressed because of having to regularly work unpaid overtime (48% of 18 to 24-year-olds), and taking on extra hours to deal with the increased cost of living (46%).
Workers aged 25-34 reported high stress caused by a high or increased workload (56%) and fears of redundancy or around job security (45%).
When it comes to switching off from work, only a third (33%) of 18 to 24-year-olds said they could when they needed to, compared with 46% of those aged 55 and above.
Brian Dow, the charity’s chief executive, said their findings show that “many organisations still offer 20th-century mental health support for a 21st-century workforce”.
He said: “Our survey clearly reveals it is young people most at risk of high stress in the workplace, but raises doubts around whether they feel able to open up to their line manager and explore reasonable adjustments that could help prevent burnout.
“As the gap between generations widens, there’s a need to rebuild bridges and open up conversations on changing attitudes and expectations around work.
“We’re calling on employers to reconsider the approach to mental health and explore reasonable adjustments and workplace wellbeing initiatives in collaboration with their young employees.
“Otherwise, they risk losing out on the newest generation of workers as they either seek employment elsewhere or disengage.”
– A total of 2,436 working adults were surveyed by YouGov in November and figures have been weighted to be representative of all UK adults.
