- People want more from technology than collaboration tools and instead want technology to support their mental health.
- Pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of 86% of the UAE workforce and 81% say they have more stress and anxiety at work than ever before.
- Employees worldwide are looking to their organisations to provide more mental health support.
Dubai: Covid-19 has increased workplace stress, anxiety and burnout for people and workers now prefer help from AI-powered therapist or chatbot counsellor to support their mental health rather than humans.
Work-related stress is not new. What’s different this year is that the pandemic has added another layer of anxiety to the mix.
According to a new study by Oracle and Workplace Intelligence, the pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of the global workforce and the impact is not only confined to professional lives but also at home.
Emily He, Senior Vice-President for Human Capital Management Cloud Business Group at Oracle, said that a properly applied AI can help employees open up about some of their most private concerns and workers are “open” to using a robot for therapy or counselling in dealing with anxiety.
In the UAE, the pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of 86 per cent of the workforce while 81 per cent say they have more stress and anxiety at work than ever before.
The survey showed that 91 per cent say their mental health issues at work negatively affect their home life and 87 per cent of people believe companies should be doing more to support the mental health of their workforce.
One reason robots may be accepted-as-confidantes, Oracle’s He said is that they provide a “no judgement” zone for employees looking for information on Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) or other benefits, whereas a human manager might react (or seem to react) negatively to an employee looking for help.
Profound impact on productivity
“That lack of judgmental attitudes is important for the many people who think any indication of mental health issues reflects poorly on them, or their ability to do their jobs,” she said.
Despite perceived drawbacks of remote work, 68 per cent of UAE workers find remote work more appealing now than they did before the pandemic, saying they now have more time to spend with family (60 per cent), sleep (34 per cent), and get work done (35 per cent).
Oracle’s He said that people want more from technology than collaboration tools and instead want technology to support their mental health.
“Employees worldwide are looking to their organisations to provide more mental health support and if this help is not provided, it will have a profound impact on productivity as well as the personal and professional lives of the UAE workforce,” she said.
The survey showed that 94 per cent of the UAE workforce would like their company to provide technology to support their mental health, including self-service access to health resources (42 per cent), on-demand counselling services (42 per cent), proactive health monitoring tools (42 per cent), access to wellness or meditation apps (41 per cent), and chatbots to answer health-related questions (32 per cent).
What is clear from this year’s results, Oracle’s He said is that people want their employers to do more to help them deal with this increased stress.
“Companies should look at this data carefully since a stressed-out or depressed employee is by definition not a happy or productive individual. And these numbers in aggregate mean that productivity as a whole will be impacted eventually if it hasn’t already happened.
“Given the sheer number of people who report increased stress this year, employers would be well advised to invest in services—including AI-based tools—that respond to these concerns and help turn a negative into a positive,” she said.
Other UAE stats
- 84 per cent of people believe robots can support their mental health better than humans compared to 82 per cent global average.
- 86 per cent of people are open to having a robot as a therapist/counsellor compared to 80 per cent global average.
- Only 16 per cent of people would prefer humans over robots to support their mental health compared to 18 per cent global average.
- 77 per cent of people would prefer to talk to a robot over their manager about stress and anxiety at work compared to 68 per cent global average.
- 86 per cent say that AI has helped their mental health at work compared to 75 per cent global average.