Exhausted Filipino workers lose nearly 50 productive days yearly: survey

MANILA — Fifty-five percent of workers in the Philippines say their mental health hurts their productivity, according to the Telus Mental Health Index released Nov. 10 by Telus Health.

The report found that 48 percent of workers often end the workday mentally or physically exhausted, while 82 percent work while unwell at least one day a week.

Seventy-seven percent said they would worry about limited career options if their workplace knew they had a mental health issue.

Telus Health, a global digital health and workforce well-being company, said the findings make employee mental health a strategic and commercial priority for employers, with implications for day-to-day performance and access to support.

The stakes are national in scale. The index, the company’s first focused on the Philippines, puts the country’s overall mental health score at 61.6 out of 100, within the report’s “strained” range of 50 to 79.

Key findings

Exhaustion and presenteeism

Workers who often end the day mentally or physically exhausted lose an estimated 49.5 working days of productivity a year, compared with 29.7 days for those who do not report exhaustion.

The estimates combine time off and reduced effectiveness on the job, based on a standard 240-day working year. They measure lost productive time, not days of absence alone.

Presenteeism refers to reduced productivity while working unwell.

Workers who never work while unwell lose an estimated 17.3 days of productivity a year. For those who work unwell four or five days a week, the loss climbs to 64.1 to 71.1 days.

For employers, the report said, this points to the need to look beyond attendance and ask whether employees are well enough to work effectively.

Estimated annual productivity loss by worker group

Financial pressures add to the strain. Half of workers name personal finances as their main source of personal stress.

Another 10 percent point to economic conditions such as inflation and the cost of living, bringing finance-related stress to six in 10 workers.

Fifty-four percent lack emergency savings to cover basic needs. Those citing finances as their main stressor lose an estimated 44.6 working days of productivity a year.

Workers without emergency savings scored 55.5 out of 100 on the index, compared with 69.0 for those with savings and 61.6 for all workers. Higher scores indicate better mental health.

Workers with emergency savings were also more than twice as likely as those without to report no personal stress at all.

Mental health score by emergency savings (out of 100)

“For many workers in the Philippines, daily financial survival and family obligations leave little room for long-term safety nets,” said Paula Allen, global leader of research and insights at Telus Health.

“When 54 percent of employees lack basic emergency savings, any unforeseen expense such as a health emergency, family needs, or disaster-related work stoppages can turn into a mental health crisis,” Allen said.

“The ongoing anxiety this creates, directly reduces workforce productivity,” Allen added. “Employee financial wellbeing, especially savings, is deeply interconnected with workplace mental health across the Philippine labor market.”

The report also identified pressures on younger workers and the wider workforce:

• Younger workers: Those under 40 were twice as likely as workers over 50 to report constant stress and to cite mental health as their main personal stressor. They were also 70 percent more likely to end the workday mentally or physically exhausted.
• Natural disasters: Twenty-four percent reported losing income because of work stoppages, while 14 percent had difficulty working remotely because of power outages or internet disruptions during natural disasters.
• Workplace pressures: High workload was the leading source of work stress, cited by 21 percent of workers, followed by lack of work-life balance at 20 percent and insufficient resources or support at 13 percent.

Workers over 50, meanwhile, were more than twice as likely as those under 40 to report no personal stress.

Stigma and gaps

Stigma runs beyond career fears. Sixty-three percent of workers said they would feel negatively about themselves if they had a mental health issue, up from 57 percent in 2022.

For employers, the report said, these concerns show why offering a service is not enough. Employees also need confidence in its confidentiality and in how their workplace responds when they seek help.

“Workplace culture and cultural stigma are barriers to workforce wellbeing in the Philippines,” said Jamie MacLennan, Asia-Pacific region head of Telus Health.

“More than three-quarters of employees fear their career progression will be impacted by disclosing mental health challenges and this silent suffering is costing companies in lost productivity,” MacLennan said.

“People leaders don’t feel equipped to handle wellbeing conversations, so leaders have an urgent responsibility to support managers with proper training to address workplace stigma and ensure accessible, judgment-free support systems for every employee,” MacLennan added.

Cost was the most common barrier to mental health support, cited by 52 percent of workers.

Thirty-two percent did not know which type of care was best for them, while 29 percent did not know where to seek help.

Gaps in workplace support also surfaced. Only 60 percent of managers said they would know what to do if they suspected an employee was struggling with a mental health issue.

Separately, 42 percent of workers said their manager had not told them about available health and well-being programs.

The findings land on obligations employers already carry. The Department of Labor and Employment’s Department Order 208, series of 2020, requires private-sector workplaces to adopt a mental health workplace policy and program to raise awareness, prevent stigma and discrimination, and support affected workers.

The order, signed Feb. 11, 2020, implements Republic Act 11036, or the Mental Health Act, which took effect in July 2018.

Telus Health said the findings strengthen the case for treating employee assistance programs as part of workforce and business planning.

Employers should make confidential support easy to access, explain the services available and how employee information is handled, and equip managers through facilitated training to discuss mental health and direct employees to mental health and well-being programs, the company said.

That support should come with action on workload, work-life balance, and access to resources, so employees can seek help before those pressures further disrupt their work, according to the report.

Telus Health collected the data through an online survey of 2,000 people living in the Philippines who were employed at the time or within the previous six months. Responses were gathered from July 24 to Aug. 5, 2026.

Participants were selected to reflect the age, gender, industry, and geographic distribution of the Philippines.

The index scores mental health out of 100, with 80 to 100 considered optimal, 50 to 79 strained, and 0 to 49 distressed.