While two in three workers in the UK report moderate-to-serious psychological distress, only one in four have a formal mental health diagnosis.
This is according to Vitality’s Global Health Index 2026, conducted in partnership with Rand Europe, which polled 9,206 workers in full and part-time employment across the US, Germany, Japan, Singapore and more than 2,000 in the UK.
Generational gradient
But the findings also point to a clear generational gradient. More than eight in 10 Gen Z workers, those aged 18 to 24, reported moderate or serious psychological distress, with young women disproportionately affected – 35% reported depressive symptoms compared with 24% of their male peers. Workers aged 18 to 34 were more than four times as likely to report serious psychological distress as those aged 55 and over.
Though the report finds just one in three UK employers offer counselling or mental health support, while access to occupational health and early intervention remains patchy, particularly among smaller employers.
Three high-impact opportunities
The report identifies three higher-impact opportunities for action including automatic enrolment in health support programmes to reach the workers least likely to opt in; board-level accountability for workforce health with metrics in annual reporting; and investment in management capability, where the data shows a gap of nine lost productive days per worker per year between those who feel their manager supports their health and those who do not.
Lagging behind international peers
The report also found the UK lags international peers on the basic infrastructure of workforce health. Just 20% of UK employees are offered health insurance through work, despite this being a gateway to wider health and wellbeing support, including mental health services, and only 13% are offered health screening, against global averages of 33% and 23%, respectively.
Search for growth
Neville Koopowitz, global CEO of Vitality, said: “Britain’s search for growth could be aided by paying more attention to one of our greatest productivity issues. This is not people just being off sick, it is people at work, struggling with their health and wellbeing, most likely within organisations that do not measure the health, wellbeing and productivity challenges affecting their workforce.
“It might be an investment, yet it is those employers who are taking the time to understand their employees’ health and associated challenges. and then addressing it that are seeing real returns. The gap between organisations that do this and do it well, will become increasingly visible, with the cost of inaction today.”
Challenge from presenteeism
Christian van Stolk, deputy chief executive at Rand Europe, said: “The evidence linking health and productivity is substantial, yet absence remains the measure that attracts most attention from employers.
“The findings from this Global Health Index suggest this risks overlooking the larger challenge of presenteeism, where productivity is affected while people remain at work. Left unaddressed, these underlying health issues can become a precursor to long-term absence.”