Understanding the Impact of Mental Health in the Workplace

Every team faces tough problems, and the hardest ones aren’t always technical. They’re personal. Mental health isn’t always visible and doesn’t follow a roadmap, but it impacts how we show up for our work, our teammates, and ourselves. Mental health in the workplace should be a topic of open conversation, not something left unspoken.

In this two-part blog series, I’ll share my own experience with mental health, how we approach it at Adaptive, and what we’ve learned along the way. This first part explores the importance of awareness, understanding, and what mental health challenges often look like, both visibly and invisibly.

Understanding Mental Health (in the Workplace)

Mental health is an integral aspect of our well-being, influencing how we think, feel, and act. It determines how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Despite its undeniable importance, mental health remains a topic shrouded in stigma and misunderstanding, especially mental health in the workplace.

The reality is, everyone will face mental health challenges at some point. It’s not about if, it’s when. And those challenges shouldn’t be something we hide or feel ashamed of. I, like most people during their lifetime, have experienced tough times with my own mental health, and luckily, I had the right support and subsequently the strength to not let those moments derail me; in fact, they helped me grow as a leader and person.

Struggles with mental health don’t define your potential, but they can deepen your empathy, resilience, and impact. These challenges are not a weakness, and they’re certainly not a barrier to growth.

The Numbers Speak Volumes

Here’s a striking set of stats based on the current number of employees at Adaptive that put things in perspective in regads of mental health in the workplace:

+ 52 people at Adaptive will experience a major depressive episode in their lives. [1]
+ 66 will report a common mental health problem this year. [2]
+ 33 are currently struggling with a mental health disorder. [3]
+ 13 are living with a serious condition like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. [4]

These are not “other people.” These are our colleagues, our friends, and maybe even you, I. These numbers are not unique to Adaptive; they reflect broader global trends and urge us to act quickly.

And what about the most common conditions many people deal with every day, like anxiety, depression, and stress? According to Champion Health’s Workplace Health Report 2023:

+ 60% of working professionals experience at least mild anxiety.
+ 56% experience symptoms of depression.
+ 76% report moderate to high stress.

These aren’t rare outliers. These are everyday realities, and they deserve attention, not silence.

What Does Struggle Look Like?

Sometimes, we can spot when someone’s struggling. For example, a shift in behavior, a drop in energy, a sense that something’s off. But more often than not, we can’t. Mental health challenges don’t always show up in obvious ways. Someone might seem cheerful, productive, and engaged, all while quietly facing something really difficult. That’s why it’s so important to build a culture where people feel safe speaking up and being supported when they do. We can’t help with what we don’t see unless we create space for it to be seen.

A poignant reminder that struggles are not always visible is Norwich City Football Club’s video, “You Are Not Alone”, created for World Mental Health Day 2024:

📌 Stay tuned for Part 2 about Mental Health in the Workplace, where we’ll explore how we can build safer, more inclusive spaces for mental health conversations, starting with the words we use and the actions we take.