APAC employees reported a 1.5% year-on-year increase in perceived employer support, bringing the region in line with global benchmarks, but…
New insights from global mental health benefits company Intellect‘s second edition of its Workplace Wellbeing 360 Report 2025 highlight mental wellbeing as a key driver of workplace productivity across 10 industries worldwide, and flag stress management as an urgent concern.
According to findings from the report, APAC employees feel more supported at work – but stress is on the rise.
Providing data-driven insights into the evolving dynamics between workplace mental health and performance, the report is based on data from 50,000 employees from 182 countries and using Intellect’s proprietary and holistic 26-question Dimensions measurement framework.
Diving deep into the four components of workplace wellbeing – employee wellbeing, organizational support, work engagement and employee productivity – the report aims to compare workplace wellbeing across 10 industries globally, as well as help organizations assess their own state of workplace wellbeing against local and global peers.
“With the findings in Workplace Wellbeing 360 Report 2025: Benchmarking 10 Industries Across the World, it’s clear that mental wellbeing is a key driver of business success,” said Theodoric Chew, Co-Founder & CEO, Intellect. “Employers that invest in support systems, initiatives and programs that help employees feel valued, will ultimately create healthier workplaces where teams are more productive and engaged. With this report, we want to empower employers and human resources professionals to make strategic, data-driven recommendations that drive measurable outcomes and enhance organizational performance.”
Employees in APAC feel more supported at work
In a year that saw global perceptions of organizational support decline slightly, Intellect’s report found that employees across the majority of industries in Asia Pacific (APAC) showed more positive sentiments in 2024. This led to a 1.5% year-on-year increase that enabled the region to reach parity with other regions.
The contrasting trend between APAC and other regions is also consistent when examining the personal factors that influence workplace wellbeing, with employees in APAC reporting improvements in areas such as mental wellbeing and resilience, among others, while their global counterparts reported dips or negligible growth in these areas.
APAC’s top three improved scores are Mental Wellbeing, Self-Efficacy, and Purpose and Meaning. Self-efficacy improved across most APAC markets, except in Japan, the Philippines, and Pakistan.
Mental wellbeing is the strongest enabler of productivity
The findings point to personal mental wellbeing as the most important factor when determining employee productivity, even more so than growth mindset and goal orientation, two factors that many organizations prioritize.
Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore had the largest decreases in growth mindset. Singapore is the only APAC market that saw declines in growth mindset, work-life balance, and stress management, but still showed an overall improvement in mental wellbeing.
This shows that investing in workplace mental health is both a strategic and financial imperative for businesses, and that personal development could be an overlooked driver of performance.
Employees are taking less time off – but this may be hindering productivity
Presenteeism, the phenomenon where employees are present but not engaged due to physical and mental health concerns, is rising. In 2024, presenteeism increased by nearly 8%, rising from 38.2% in 2023 to 41.2%, leading to a dip in productivity and efficiency.
Further, presenteeism is a greater financial burden on organizations, costing 3X as much as absenteeism, or the number of days employees miss due to physical or mental health.
Helping employees manage stress is an urgent need globally
Although the global workforce has improved in self-efficacy, purpose and meaning, and optimism, there have been significant downward shifts in stress management, growth mindset, and self-awareness.
In line with their global counterparts, employees in APAC reported declines in stress management. With a year-on-year decrease from 60% in 2023 to 58% in 2024, employers should implement targeted initiatives. This will help mitigate stress and help staff members maximize their productivity in ways that are healthy, promote greater work-life balance and foster greater self-awareness.
