Hong Kong workers want more mental health support at work, study finds

Some 90 per cent of respondents to the city's first ever academic survey of workplace mental health conditions said they needed better support at work.

And almost 60 per cent said mental health issues in the workplace were pushing away talented staff.

A total of 1,031 workers and managers responded to the study on knowledge, attitude and practices to do with mental health in the workplace, commissioned by the Joyful Mental Health Foundation and conducted by the University of Hong Kong. The findings were revealed yesterday.

"The government should create a programme to monitor what we call mental health literacy," said Samson Tse Shu-ki, co-author of the study and associate dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. He was referring to awareness of mental health issues among the city's 3.7 million-strong workforce, and the factors that affect those issues.

Stigmatisation of people with mental health issues was prevalent in the workplace, Tse said.

Both Tse and co-author Paul Wong Wai-ching, an assistant professor in the same faculty, said the government should launch a programme to track workplace mental health.

The city should also implement an awareness campaign to help workers and managers improve their mental health, and to eradicate stigmatisation in the workplace, the researchers said.