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Black employees value access to mental health support at work, survey finds

Black knowledge workers’ ability to focus has been disproportionately affected by external factors, such as the rising cost of living and global health concerns.

A majority of Black professionals make their mental well-being a top priority, more than any other racial group, according to a recently published report.

After surveying more than 2,500 knowledge workers (those with desk-based employment) around the globe in December, the employment platform Oyster reported that almost half of the respondents chose mental well-being as their top priority, a figure that rises to 58% for Black workers.

“Perhaps Black knowledge workers must put more energy into protecting their mental health and can less afford to spend it elsewhere,” states the report, published last Thursday.

Particularly in the U.S., Western Europe and Canada, where the majority of the survey respondents reside, Black knowledge workers’ ability to focus has been disproportionately affected by external factors, such as the rising cost of living and global health concerns.

“The data that we have certainly shows that it’s not a universal experience,” said Simon Pickerill, a content marketing manager at Oyster and one of the lead researchers on the survey. “There are knowledge workers out there that are struggling, perhaps more than others.” 

Compared to other racial groups, more Black survey respondents (60%) reported struggling so much with the rising cost of living that they are finding it hard to focus at work.

Additional findings:

  • 55% of Black workers see a safe, inclusive work environment as very important, almost 14 percentage points higher than their white colleagues.
  • 63 percent of Black employees indicated that regular raises affect their well-being at work, compared to 48.3% of white workers.
  • Black employees value access to mental health support (64%) more than their white colleagues (22%). 

Pickerill said he hopes the survey results will inspire companies to think about how to provide extra support to employees of marginalized groups. 

“One of the things that would be great to see is companies thinking, ‘How can we better support our Black employees?’” Pickerill said. “How can we better support our employees of color, make them feel safe and give them an environment where they can really thrive?”

Pickerill said he corroborated the survey responses with previous data on Black workers’ wages and employment opportunities, including a 2021 report by Investopedia using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The median weekly earnings of white employees are significantly higher than the earnings of Black workers, where white workers earn an average of over $1,000 a week and Black workers earn less than $900, according to data as of Jan. 19 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“That was one of the things that was important to cross-validate for us so that we could see, is our data correct? It looks like unfortunately, in some ways, it is,” Pickerill said. “It would make sense based on this data how Black workers are struggling more with things like higher cost of living and a failing economy when they’re earning less.”

But Pickerill said he hopes the main takeaway from the survey responses isn’t “doom and gloom.” 

“It says ‘disillusionment report,’ and that kind of seems negative. But we actually want it to be a really positive thing, because this could be a big call to action to employers out there to take better care of their employees, of their teams,” Pickerill said.