Younger workers more likely to suffer burnout as generation gap grows

The report also revealed that far fewer workers feel comfortable opening up to their bosses about the pressure they are under.

While around one in 10 workers aged 45 and above needed time off last year because of poor mental health caused by stress, it was around one in three for those aged 18-24, Mental Health UK said.

The charity's second annual Burnout Report found this was the case for around 29 per cent of workers aged 25-34 last year, up from 23 per cent the previous year; and a quarter (25 per cent) of 35 to 44-year-olds, up from a fifth in 2023.

Among 18 to 24-year-olds the proportion saw a smaller rise, from 34 per cent to 35 per cent last year.

In contrast, a smaller proportion of older workers said they were taking time off for stress - some 14 per cent of 45 to 54-year-olds, down from 18 per cent the previous year, and 10 per cent of workers aged 55 and above, down from 15 per cent.

In what the charity described as a "warning sign of a breakdown in trust between employers and younger workers", its findings showed only a little over half (56 per cent) of 18 to 24-year-olds said they would feel comfortable opening up to a line manager about the pressure and stress they felt.

This was a sharp drop from 75 per cent of this age group in the previous report.

Younger workers were most likely to feel stressed because of having to regularly work unpaid overtime (48 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds), and taking on extra hours to deal with the increased cost of living (46 per cent).

Workers aged 25-34 reported high stress caused by a high or increased workload (56 per cent) and fears of redundancy or around job security (45 per cent).

When it comes to switching off from work, only a third (33 per cent) of 18 to 24-year-olds said they could when they needed to, compared with 46 per cent of those aged 55 and above.

Brian Dow, the charity's chief executive, said their findings show that "many organisations still offer 20th-century mental health support for a 21st-century workforce".

He said: "Our survey clearly reveals it is young people most at risk of high stress in the workplace, but raises doubts around whether they feel able to open up to their line manager and explore reasonable adjustments that could help prevent burnout.

"As the gap between generations widens, there's a need to rebuild bridges and open up conversations on changing attitudes and expectations around work.

"We're calling on employers to reconsider the approach to mental health and explore reasonable adjustments and workplace wellbeing initiatives in collaboration with their young employees.

"Otherwise, they risk losing out on the newest generation of workers as they either seek employment elsewhere or disengage."

A total of 2,436 working adults were surveyed by YouGov in November and figures have been weighted to be representative of all UK adults.

-- BERNAMA