Mentally Healthy 2020 Research

18 months on from our first study into the mental health and wellbeing of the creative, media and marketing industry, we’re back with a deeper dive. The purpose of the second study was to evaluate what’s changed since 2018 and to further understand how people cope and what can be done to improve the situation.

More than 1,500 employees across the media, marketing and creative industry participated in the survey, which took place during February and March this year. In a fairly even split, 39% were in the creative sector of the industry, with 40% in media, 13% in marketing. 54% of participants worked in companies that employed more than 50 people. A further pulse-study was conducted in May 2020 to measure the impact of COVID-19 on the findings and was completed by over 500 participants. The results of the pulse survey were analysed to extract any major differences that might affect the relevance of the findings of the larger study. Analysis showed only a few minor differences that you can find in the commentary below.

You can find a copy of the presentation from the launch event here. You can watch the replay of the event here. The 2018 report is here.

OUR MENTAL HEALTH

As in 2018, we used the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) to identify symptoms of depression and anxiety. The result was remarkably similar. Anxiety and depression levels remain high and virtually identical to 2018. This changed only slightly in the follow-up survey during the COVID-19 lockdown. Anxiety reduced slightly, whilst depression climbed slightly, but not enough (either way) to mark a significant change.

Once again, on the severe end of the scale, the results were much higher than national averages.

20% of us show severe symptoms of depression with 24% showing severe symptoms of anxiety.

GOOD NEWS

While levels of mental ill-health remain the same, there’s good news when it comes to understanding and coping. With such high levels, there’s a greater than 1 in 2 chance that whoever you choose to talk to, will be able to relate, if you’re looking to share how you’re feeling.

Compared to 2018, we’re 24% MORE likely to consider disclosing if we’ve been diagnosed with depression, and 22% MORE of us believe that our peers won’t be treated differently if they were to disclose a mental illness. While we still have a long way to go, this is welcome news as we encourage people to speak up and normalise that we all have to manage our mental health.

As one of our change group members regularly reminds us –
“If you have a body, you have to manage your physical health. If you have a brain, you have to manage your mental health.”

The reality is that with more than half of us revealing that our mental health isn’t perfect, then it’s us who are in the majority – so we should be able to talk about it. Indeed, 44% of participants have had some sort of treatment for mental illness in the past. This means that if you confide in a colleague or chat to a manager, there’s a good chance that you’ll find someone who can relate and has experience of what you’re going through.

39% of people disagreed with the statement that people in my industry would be treated poorly if they were to disclose they had been diagnosed with a mental illness.

Of course, if you’re in the middle of experiencing an extreme low or debilitating anxiety, the last thing you might want to do is speak up. Indeed, those experiencing anxiety symptoms are twice as likely to think they will be treated poorly. That’s why it’s all the more important that we look out for each other and mindful of what anyone could be going through.

When we first formed the Mentally-Healthy Change Group in 2019, we agreed that stigma would be the primary issue that we wanted to address. Initiatives like our book collaboration with the Heart On My Sleeve Movement (sharing stories from industry leaders), the creation of the Minimum Standards, events like the Unltd: Big Chat Mental Health Toolkit, Mental Health First Aid training and Asking For A Friend have no doubt helped to improve the level and volume of conversation.

It’s also encouraging to see other initiatives and events be conceived and embraced by the industry. These are positive signs, but they need to continue if we’re to drive meaningful change.

The conversation around mental health will continue. We cannot afford for it to be a ‘trend’, but something that becomes a part of the fabric of our workplaces. Whether it’s a positive or negative conversation is up to all of us.

TRANSFORMATION

Workplaces are starting to respond to the challenge. 68% of respondents believed that their employer is starting to take mental health seriously. However, there’s talking the talk and walking the walk. More than half believe that current initiatives are having little or no effectiveness.

If you work in our industry, you’re likely to have seen the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) posters on the back of the toilet door, motivational posters in reception, free yoga on a Thursday, and mindfulness initiatives being introduced as a response to improving mental health in the workplace.

While these all may play a role in making work more pleasant and manageable, the people have spoken.

We want to see significant changes in the things that make a difference to the way we work and who we work for. It’s these things that effect 99% of our working day. At the top of the list are more empathetic, educated leaders, leaders who lead by example. We want the structure and resources that are aligned to and match the demands of the work we’re committed to. We want flexible work conditions and more clarity around what’s expected of us.

When we asked, you spoke loud and clear.

Investing in people, and in particular leaders, could make a significant and positive effect to how mentally healthy we can become as an industry.  Too often, we’re not taught how to lead. Leaders are promoted for entirely different skills and reasons than the ones that they actually need in a leadership role. Given the staggering turnover of staff we see in our industry, there’s a very strong business case in saving money on recruitment fees alone. An investment in more empathetic, mental health literate leaders would be a strong next step following the findings from this study.

COPING

In analysing the results, it’s difficult to determine causality. However, we found very clear associations between certain coping mechanisms and higher symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress.

Quality of sleep in our industry is clearly an issue. More than half of us are experiencing poor sleep patterns and duration. As in the previous research, we’re finding it hard to switch off and we’re taking our work home with us. Add in the uncertainty caused by the pandemic and it’s a toxic mixture that can have a severe impact on our ability to wind down and improve our mental health.

People with good sleep quality are twice as likely to have fewer anxiety symptoms.

When it comes to alcohol, it may come as no surprise to hear that nearly half of us are drinking at what are considered to be ‘risky’ levels. The research used the World Health Organisation’s AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) to determine our relationship with alcohol.  45% of us are consuming alcohol at risky levels and 1 in 5 of us are drinking more than 6 drinks in a session once a week.

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 didn’t help. In fact 51% of us increased our alcohol intake during lockdown.

In better news, there was very little claimed usage of illegal drugs. 90% of our industry have never, or not taken marijuana or amphetamine type stimulants in the last month. Even those who did report, seemed to be taking them incidentally versus having a fully developed reliance.

For some of us, COVID-19 and the lockdown actually kicked us into a more positive and healthy lifestyle. We made the effort to connect more with others and we increased healthy exercise and eating habits.  

The lesson with alcohol remains though. The evidence was clear. People with high levels of depression and anxiety are 3x more likely to be drinking alcohol at high risk levels. Whether once causes the other, or the other way round, we need to change. In fact, respondents specifically called it out when asked what could be improved.

“Stop the binge drinking culture. Rethink our industry’s relationship with alcohol.”

PRESSURE

In 2018, participants told us that some of the biggest stressors they experienced were that of their own expectations. This arguably unique industry dynamic came out top of the pile again in 2020. In fact, we were still more concerned about our own expectations than anything else that COVID-19 could throw at us.

Of course, the pandemic brought some new challenges and amplified others. Inevitably, our sense of isolation was heightened and uncertainty / lack of control over our own future climbed up the list of stressors.

Multiple responsibilities and unclear expectations also ranked high. Which also validates what respondents were asking for when it came to improving the situation.  It seems we can be too fluid when it comes to how we manage and communicate with our people. Once again, a signal to a necessary and almost inarguable point that we should invest in helping to support and educate our leaders to be better now and in the future.

Perhaps it’s too simple a story to tell.

Improve the ability of leaders to lead. Be clearer with communication and what we expect from each other. Keep the expectations realistic, which may help to improve the pressure we put on ourselves. In turn, reduce the ‘written between the lines’ expectations of hours we should be working and the pressure to work when sick.

Does it sound familiar? It’s within our power to change it.

HELP

With the scale of the problem so vast, it’s sensible to expect that actual diagnoses are also high, along with the instances of professional treatment,

44% of respondents said that they had received some sort of treatment for mental ill-health in the past 12 months. 84% of us said that we had talked with a friend or family member about mental ill-health. This is a hopeful sign that more and more of us are willing to take the first step in opening up. 47% of respondents had visited a GP in the last 12 months.

As in 2018, we’re still looking for help at work. 44% of people told us that they had spoken with a boss or colleague about their mental health.  Are you ready and willing to have that conversation? Because there’s a good chance of you having it in the next 12 months.

People would rarely seek support from a professional only (i.e. they are also more likely to seek support from others at the same time, or instead of professional support). While those with more symptoms are more likely to have sought professional support, still a high proportion that showed symptoms but haven’t (32.2% depression, 28.9% anxiety).

If you thought that seeing a psychiatrist was for ‘extreme’ or ‘special cases’ then please take note that 32% of respondents had seen one in the last 12 months. Look around you, and that’s 1 in 3. Getting help, a fresh perspective, someone who’s trained to do just that can do the world of good. We see personal trainers for our body. Psychologists are the same for our mind.

In the last year, the idea of in-house psychologists for workplaces in our industry has been suggested. Will we see them in the coming years? Perhaps. But given the comparatively low take-up of workplace mental health services, we should probably evaluate them in their current form before adding to them. Are they positioned correctly? Are they used frequently? Are they seen as a safety net to stop the absolute worst from happening? Or a service to help keep employees in good (mental) health?

MINIMUM STANDARDS

Towards the end of 2019 the Mentally-Healthy Change Group launched the Minimum Standards. A set of guidelines to help businesses understand what their responsibilities are when it comes to the mental health of their people. They also exist to give people the chance to rationalise the conversation with their employer. A chance to highlight potentially damaging or unfair treatment or work practices.

To date, over 90 companies have signed the Standards. The who’s who of our industry is listed. Companies like Facebook, OMD, Havas, McCann, Fjord, phd, ooh! media, CHE Proximity, Interbrand and more have committed and signed. There are still plenty more to come on board. If you’re reading this report and your company hasn’t signed, just head here.

Given the relative newness of the Standards, it was perhaps not surprising that only 17% of participants had heard of their existence, with 12% claiming their business had signed them. Having been made aware of them in the survey, only 20% of people believed that their employer had enough measures in place that they would be able to sign them.

CONCLUSIONS AND OUR FOCUS FOR 2020

Some of the verbatims that were shared by respondents showed us that this is a fight we’ll need to be in for the long-haul. Luckily, there are signs of improvement and evidence for optimism. We’re lucky to have a group of passionate volunteers dedicated to helping make sure that workplaces take mental health seriously.

Still, it’s heart-breaking to hear of some experiences. To hear that a manager regularly makes fun of mental illness, or that some leaders are ‘a bit over the topic’ is disappointing to say the least. As we collected results, we came across this narrative of the situation we’re facing.

“Turnover of staff is very high so we're always looking to hire replacement staff or newly created roles. They talk a lot of mental health within our agencies and what they are going to change, but actually actioning what they are preaching is not happening. It's like they think if they 'talk' about it and do presentations on it, it will somehow change the environment. It doesn't. Actions and guiding by example is by far more powerful than empty words. Also, they offer yoga or meditation classes, BUT that does not work! That is putting a band aid on the larger problem. There needs to be some major changes around the hours people are expected to work, the deadlines set and resourcing help to actually fix the problem. Not a weekly yoga or meditation class. They throw out company perks to mask the actual problem.”

Whoever you are, thank you. You’re not alone in thinking this way. At the same time our quest for improved levels of empathy around mental health isn’t a witch hunt. Perhaps we just don’t know any better. We’re continuing the cycle of expectations and behaviour that got us here in the first place.

As a group, we will relentlessly continue to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health. We’ll search further afield for the answer. For example, you might be surprised to know that the stigma in the mining industry is a third less than in our industry. We can be better.

Look out for leadership resources and initiatives in 2020. We’re looking to do everything we can to help leaders understand their own mental health and that of their employees. You’ll also find more resources on Mentally-Healthy.org, and a commitment to more events like Asking For A Friend and UnLtd’s Big Chat. If you haven’t signed the Minimum Standards yet, then take a look and discuss the possibility with your team. If you have, then there’s more support and a chance to build on the Standards in the works right now.

Thank you for taking the time to read this report. If you have questions, thoughts, opinions, we’d love to hear them. You can contact us here and also join discussions in the Never Not Creative Facebook group.