Workplace pressures take a toll, but employers can help

Evidence is piling up that many in today’s workplace are not OK. Stressors like financial insecurity, worries about artificial intelligence (AI), and political strife spilling into the workplace are dragging people down. And employers and employees aren’t always coping well. While no perfect solution is likely to surface, suggestions abound on how employers can help.

Trust versus anxiety

Modern Health, a global workplace mental health platform, released a report in April 2026 that shows increased pressure on workers. All too often, workers feeling the strain are turning to substances to manage stress, according to the survey of 1,000 full-time employees at companies with 250 or more employees.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the respondents report having used alcohol, THC/marijuana, or unprescribed pharmaceutical drugs at some point in the past year to relieve stress. In addition, 52% report using substances to cope with work stress during the workday itself.

Seventy-six percent of respondents report mental health coverage through employee health benefits, but just 33% of the employees strongly agree that their employer values their mental health—down from 41% who felt that way in 2025.

The collapse of trust is driving workers away from the people in their organizations who are there to help, according to the Modern Health report. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents say they feel safer talking to a chatbot about their mental health than their workplace HR department.