Two in Three Workers Have Already Sought Psychological Support, but at Their Own Expense

When people talk about psychological support at work, they often assume employees need to be persuaded to ask for help. The “Mens sana in corporate sana” Observatory, run by Serenis with the Department of Economics and Business at the University of Padua across more than 1,200 workers, tells a different story. 67% have already gone through counselling or psychological support on their own. Only 4% did so using tools provided by their employer. The demand is there, but in most cases company welfare does not reach it.

Growing Distress, and a Perception Gap

61% of respondents show psychological distress of growing severity, and the average distress indicator has risen by 1.3 points since 2023. Only 17% report a good level of mental wellbeing, and for one person in two the stress built up at work weighs heavily on overall wellbeing. Globally, according to the WHO and the ILO, depression and anxiety cost 12 billion working days every year. Perception matters too: more than 6 in 10 workers consider mental wellbeing at work extremely important, yet 57.8% say their employer shows extremely little interest, up from 52.9% in 2023. In this context, a service that is hard to see or hard to use risks being read as confirmation of indifference.

The Barriers Are Not the Ones We Expect

Among those who have never started a psychological path, stigma weighs less than one might think: only 9% cite it. What matters more is money (50%), lack of time (34%) and not knowing where to start in finding a psychologist (24%). These are obstacles an employer can act on, and each suggests a design criterion. On cost, the service needs meaningful coverage, not one or two token sessions. On time, it needs online sessions and hours that fit with work. On orientation, it needs a guided path to the right professional rather than a list of contacts. Confidentiality is part of the picture too: direct access, no passing through HR, and reporting only in aggregate form.

From Benefit to Risk Management

For 85.3% of respondents, psychological wellbeing programmes are the most effective company initiative, well ahead of health checks (49.9%) and sports activities (36.5%). Treating them as one more item in the benefits basket, however, limits their impact. Linking them to the assessment of stress linked to work required by Italian Legislative Decree 81/2008 allows them to be directed to the most exposed areas. In the Observatory, for example, sales (4.6 out of 10) and production and logistics (4.8) record the lowest levels of job satisfaction.

What to Measure

The activation rate is the first indicator, but on its own it says little. It is also worth tracking how long paths continue beyond the first session, how quickly people get access, and how absenteeism and turnover evolve in the areas involved. Anonymous surveys on awareness of the service help interpret the numbers: low use with high awareness points to a trust problem, low use with low awareness to a communication problem.

What It Means for Companies

Welfare is one part of the answer, but the data suggest the issue is also played out elsewhere: in workloads, in the quality of leadership and in the climate of the most exposed areas. It is a field close to Euren’s work: using assessment to see how managers handle pressure and relationships with their teams, supporting those who lead people in the most critical areas through development paths, and backing organisational choices that reduce stress at the root with business advisory and change management. A well designed service helps, but it does not replace an organisation that cares about how work is done.