Women Are Experiencing a Mental Health Crisis. What That Means for Employers

Mental health has become a significant area of concern for employers, with rates of stress, burnout, depression, anxiety, and other issues increasing among workers.

But for women, the mental health crisis is reaching a breaking point.

“This is absolutely a significant problem for women in the workforce,” said Jennifer Birdsall, clinical psychologist and clinical director at ComPsych, a mental health provider that works with employers. “It’s something that’s been accelerating for the past few years going back to the pandemic.”

Related: HR Pros and Workplace Mental Health

According to ComPsych data, women have driven a stunning surge in mental health-related leaves of absence. In the first quarter of 2024, 11% of all leaves of absence were due to mental health, representing a 22% increase in mental health leaves versus those taken in the first quarter of 2023. Significantly, the trend is being driven by female workers, who accounted for 69% of all mental health leaves of absence in 2023 and 71% of all mental health leaves in the first quarter of 2024. Separate data from ComPsych revealed that women have accounted for 60% of U.S. depression cases over the past two years.

Additionally, the Aflac WorkForces Report found that while 57% of workers reported suffering at least moderate levels of burnout, women are more vulnerable to this particular issue, with 75% reporting burnout at work as opposed to 58% of men.

In short, Birdsall said, the data points to one conclusion: Women are in the throes of a mental health crisis.

And many experts say it’s a problem that demands employer help.

What’s Going On

On top of day-to-day personal and interpersonal stressors, several macro issues—including social, political, economic, and technological stressors—are at play in impacting everyone’s mental health. Years of high inflation and soaring costs have exacerbated financial stress, for example, while political stress and employees working longer hours than ever are other major concerns.

While women are coping with all those issues, they are also being exposed to a series of other stressors that are more prevalent for women.

Some of the biggest stressors facing women are caregiving and parenting responsibilities, which historically tend to fall on women compared to men, even when women  are also working full time.

“Women tend to take the majority of the parenting responsibilities, even in a dual-earner household,” said Rachel Sederberg, senior economist and director of research at Lightcast, a Boston-based labor market analytics firm. “It takes a lot to take on all of those different responsibilities within the household.” And now, working caregivers are dealing with even more problems—such as the loss of remote, flexible work options due to post-pandemic return-to-office mandates and the high cost of child care.

See HR Quarterly article: What’s Working for Mothers

Other contributing factors impacting women’s mental health in the workplace include pay inequities and the glass ceiling as it relates to health issues such as menopause, infertility, and postpartum depression. Recent research from virtual health care provider Maven Clinic, for instance, found that one in three (33%) Millennials experiencing menopause symptoms said that their symptoms have impacted their ability to perform at work.

To further compound the stressors affecting women, Birdsall said that many women avoid discussing their concerns at work, “partially due to societal pressures to handle their competing responsibilities, such as increased child-rearing and adult-caregiving responsibilities compared to their male counterparts, and partially due to fears of negative work consequences if their managers believe they would not have the capacity to take on more opportunities at work.” 

Further, as family caregivers, women may neglect their own care more often as they prioritize the care of others, Birdsall said. “This social stigma, or feelings of guilt, can prevent women from seeking the help they need.” 

What Employers Can Do

Offering comprehensive mental health benefits—including employee assistance programs, mental health apps, and stress management programs—is an obvious way to help women, and these benefits are also highly desired by employees. According to the Aflac WorkForces Report, 76% of employees said mental health coverage is just as important, if not more important, than physical health coverage.

Paid time-off (PTO) benefits are also key to allow employees time to relax, recharge, and deal with family or health issues, said Aflac CHRO Jeri Hawthorne. For instance, she said, Aflac data found that when it comes to alleviating burnout, 66% of employees say that more PTO would help.

Some employers are going a step further to specifically provide mental health days or even companywide breaks in addition to PTO for sick and vacation leave.

“Leaders should remind employees to use their vacation days and make sure they are aware of the mental health benefits they have, such as counseling,” Hawthorne said.

But, in addition to offering mental health-specific resources, it’s just as important to provide other benefits that directly take aim at some of the issues exacerbating mental health challenges..

For instance, offering caregiving and child care benefits is an obvious solution. Those benefits are also on the rise and are often touted as a way to combat the stressors of working parents, particularly mothers. They can be a boon for employers, as well: Research from The Best Place for Working Parents—a Fort Worth, Texas-based organization that recognizes employers supporting working parents—has found that employers who offer such benefits enhance the retention rate, loyalty, and productivity of the mothers who work for them.

Female-specific benefits such as menopause support and fertility care—both of which are showing signs of growth among employers—can also make a difference. More than four in 10 U.S. employers (42%) now offer fertility benefits—up from 40% in 2022 and 30% in 2020, according to a recent report from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. And a survey of employers last fall by NFP found that a third of respondents (32%) said they hadn’t yet considered offering menopause benefits but would be open to offering such benefits within the next five years, NFP found.

Pay Equity

Finally, auditing for pay to identify gaps is also essential to help improve women’s mental health. That’s because female workers on average make 83 cents on the dollar compared to men, according to the 2024 Gender Pay Gap Report by Payscale. That number is the same as it was last year.

Meanwhile, only 56% of full-time workers in the U.S. are making a living wage, while 44% are not earning enough to cover their family’s basic needs, according to the inaugural Dayforce Living Wage Index, developed in partnership with the Living Wage Institute, an organization that launched last year.

The gap is even more pronounced for women and people of color. According to the report, men (62%) are significantly more likely than women (50%) to make a living wage. And 60% of full-time Black and Latino workers do not earn a living wage, compared to 32% of white workers.

“It starts with being able to answer the question: ‘Are your workers making a living wage?’ ” said Kavya Vaghul, co-founder and chief product officer of the Living Wage Institute, when discussing  employer action on addressing pay inequities. “Unpacking the answers to this question can help leaders identify who might be most at risk in their workforce and where they should focus their initial efforts. Employers can look at available living-wage data and insights so they can navigate challenges like balancing cash compensation with benefits offerings, forecasting wage growth scenarios, and tracking the worker and business impacts of evolving compensation approaches.”

Good for Business

Supporting female workers’ mental health is not only good for employees; it’s good for employers as well, with workplaces seeing rates of retention and productivity rise when women feel that their employer cares about their well-being. Of the 48% of employees who told Aflac their employers don’t care about their mental health, 60% said they are at least somewhat likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months.

“Investing in employee mental health upfront pays dividends with happier, healthier teams and reduced absenteeism,” Birdsall said.