Why Singapore is far from building a culture of openness around mental health

An annual study by Roffey Park Institute, Profile Search & Selection, and The Next Step finds that managers in the Asia Pacific region find it difficult to discuss mental health issues at work, even as employees themselves are reluctant to divulge how they are feeling in a work setting.

Titled Working in Asia Pacific: Key HR and Leadership Priorities for 2019, the report is based on the views of more than 2,000 managers and non-managers across Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Australia.

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Fewer than half of 970 respondents in Singapore would be confident that they would begin a conversation on mental health issues either with their line manager (47%) or a colleague (46%). Australians are much more comfortable in doing so, though they are more likely to have this conversation with a colleague (74%) than their manager (67%).

Of course, open conversations require a conducive organisational culture, where the data suggests there continues to be room for improvement. It is Singaporeans who experience a culture that is least open about, and accepting of, mental health issues (40%). (Australia 65%; Hong Kong 48%; China 46%).

The table below illustrates such trends across the regions covered:

All images / Report