Mental Health at Work: Why 50% of Employees Are Considering Quitting
Right now, one in two of your employees has considered quitting. Not because of salary or career growth, but because of their mental health. A 2025 webinar from Employee Benefits News reported that 5 in 10 employees have considered leaving their jobs due to stress.
This number should give every manager pause. Why? Because even if these employees don’t quit right away, they’re on their way to mental overwhelm and burnout. And burnout is expensive, in healthcare costs, lost productivity, absenteeism, and eventually, the hiring and training costs of replacing your employee entirely.
This April, as we recognize Stress Awareness Month, there’s no better time than now to reflect on the hidden (and not so hidden) costs of stress in the workplace and ignoring mental health at work.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Mental health at work is reaching a breaking point. The same 2025 Employee Benefits News webinar referenced earlier also found that 51% of HR leaders say mental health-related leaves of absence are on the rise, and that 6 in 10 U.S. adults report experiencing stress or anxiety at least once a week.
What’s even more alarming is not just how many Americans report feeling stressed at work. It’s what they do with that stress. Thirty-five percent say their response to stress is to “shut down and do nothing.” More than a third of people under stress don’t push through. Instead, they freeze. They may miss deadlines, stop answering calls, or stay quiet in a meeting. And when your top producers grind to a halt, the impact on your organization has a rippling effect. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost annually to depression and anxiety alone, costing approximately $1 trillion in lost productivity globally.
What's Driving the Workplace Mental Health Crisis?
The causes of mental health burnout at work are layered, but they’ve been building for years. Unsustainable workloads, always-on culture, and the blurred lines between home and work have left many employees running on empty. Organizations also frequently underestimate how much their own culture contributes to stress. Poor communication from leadership, lack of autonomy, and unclear expectations all add up.
But one of the most persistent and damaging forces is stigma. When employees don’t feel safe admitting they’re struggling, they carry the weight silently. According to a Workplace Mental Health poll by the National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI), two in five respondents worry they would be judged, lose opportunities, or even face retaliation if they talked about mental health at work. Employees perform and push through. Until they can’t, and then they leave.
Mental Health Support That Works
So what does supporting mental health at work look like? More than simply adding a yoga class to your benefits package or sending a wellness newsletter, a workplace that prioritizes mental health should give employees the resources to feel safe, supported, and seen.
This starts with:
- Leaders who model healthy behavior by setting realistic expectations, taking time off, and openly discussing stress. Make sure your managers are trained in recognizing the early signs of burnout.
- Real, accessible mental health resources. Not just an EAP hotline, but visible, destigmatized support that employees are encouraged to use, like easy, private access to teletherapy. Even better if it is covered by insurance (That’s because nearly 40% of Americans with medical debt forgo mental health care due to cost.)
- A culture that normalizes rest. Taking a mental health day should be met with the same response as a sick day. No questions asked.
- A culture of care that promotes psychological safety daily. This includes ongoing access to mental health content, check‑ins, goal tracking, and tools that help employees manage stress before it becomes burnout.
How You Can Invest in Mental Health at Work
Today’s workforce doesn’t need another reminder to “practice self‑care.” Instead, your employees need systems that support mental health at work in a way that actually fits into their lives and workdays.
HUSK Mental Health partners with employers to create a culture of care that prioritizes psychological safety, accessibility, and prevention, not just crisis response. Our preventive approach supports both individual well‑being and organizational performance by helping teams:
- Access mental health support in a way that feels private, approachable, and stigma‑free
- Build healthier habits around stress management, resilience, and recovery
- Give HR teams and managers tools that complement existing benefits and reduce the strain on internal support systems
The result? Employees feel supported earlier, stay engaged longer, and are more likely to grow with your organization instead of quietly planning their exit.
Contact our team at HUSK to explore how we can support your employees’ mental health and help your organization reduce burnout, absenteeism, and turnover.