Mental health issues drive employee helpline calls – Zurich Corporate Risk
Anxiety stayed as the top category for the fourth year, responsible for 19% of calls, while low mood accounted for 11%.
Mental health issues have remained the main reason employees call helplines, with anxiety and low mood making up 30% of calls in 2024, according to Zurich Corporate Risk data.
Anxiety stayed as the top category for the fourth year, responsible for 19% of calls, while low mood accounted for 11%.
Research found mental health was the fifth most common cause for work absences, making up 7.9% in 2022.
Previous Zurich and Cebr research found that poor mental health led to long term sick leave costing the economy around £5.9bn a year.
Calls about partner issues rose 16% and calls about family increased 4%, with both together making up 12% of total call volumes in 2024.
Since the start of 2025, the most common call reasons have stayed the same, with anxiety, low mood, partner issues and employment concerns in the top four.
Employment concerns moved up to fourth place, rising 14% year-on-year. Calls about work relationship issues went up 118%.
Redundancy fears saw a 39% increase in calls, as research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found just over a third of 2,000 firms planned to reduce headcount this year.
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