Study: More Frontline Workers Facing Mental Well-Being Challenges

Speaking to PSHRA’s Public Eye magazine last year, Eagle Hill Consulting CEO Melissa Jezior shared some thoughts on what’s causing stress among the public sector workforce.

“Many public service jobs are inherently stressful and often have demanding workloads—firefighting, 911 dispatchers, emergency and disaster response, to name just a few,” Jezior told Public Eye, as part of a discussion about a recent Eagle Hill Consulting survey that found public sector workers experiencing burnout at a higher rate than their private sector counterparts.

Maybe not surprisingly, some new research finds that frontline workers—such as those Jezior referenced and many others in the public sector—are dealing with mental health issues at higher rates than other employees.

In a recent study of more than 1,100 U.S.-based workers, meQuilibrium found that rates of anxiety and depression among frontline personnel were 33% and 61% higher, respectively, than other workers.

Despite the prevalence of such mental health issues among these essential workers, this same population is actually less aware of employer-sponsored mental health benefits, less likely to acknowledge mental well-being issues and slower to reach out for help with mental health concerns, according to the survey.

For example, awareness of mental health-related employer benefits was 22% lower among frontline workers taking part in the study, compared to non-frontline employees. Frontline workers were also 64% more likely to say they don’t have any issues with stress. Among workers who admitted to struggling with their mental well-being, frontline personnel were 62% more likely to say they have not sought out help in dealing with those issues.

“Frontline workers regularly interact with frustrated customers, work irregular shifts, lack paid time off and have minimal autonomy over duties assigned by managers, which can contribute to higher rates of burnout, anxiety, depression and secondary traumatic stress, compared to their corporate colleagues,” said Brad Smith, PhD, chief science office at meQuilibrium, in a statement.

The survey’s findings illustrate the need to prioritize mental health awareness and access to mental well-being benefits for frontline workers, added Smith.

“Using mental well-being benefits to seek professional help should not be a move of last resort only associated with times of crisis. Unfortunately, the first line response to troublesome levels of stress, anxiety or burnout among frontline workers is to take time off from the job—which they do only reluctantly as it represents a decrease in pay.”

Organizations that rely on frontline workers “have a vested interest in closing this gap,” he added, “through proactive outreach and education to improve benefit awareness and utilization around mental well-being.”