In the U.S., 94% of employers reported a stressed workforce, while 85% of Canadian employers said the same, BNA Bloomberg reports, citing the 2016 mental health and substance abuse survey from Wisconsin-based International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. 

“The whole importance and scope of mental health challenges is misunderstood in the workplace, and human resources staff and benefits staff need to get a handle on it,” said Julie Stich, foundation associate vice president of content. Stich’s group surveyed 344 organizations and found 3% reported an extremely stressed workforce, 30% said their workforce was very stressed and 59% noted a somewhat stressed workforce.

For U.S. organizations, 60.8% said that depression was common, while 66% of Canadian organizations noted that depression was prevalent. Just under 93% of employers offered workers mental health or substance abuse benefits, while 98% provided employee assistance programs, 34% offered wellness programs and 14% gave health risk assessments.  

While the mental health care services provided by U.S. and Canadian employers were often similar, there is one big difference in that “in Canada you have provincial health-care systems,” Stich said. “Everyone has health care... That isn’t the case in the U.S.” So U.S. employers end up absorbing the cost of providing mental health services and it amounts to a sizable chunk--an average 13.6% of total health care expenses are linked to stress. 

Workplace stress can be especially tricky when human resources deals with eating disorders, the Society For Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports.

There are 20 million women and 10 million men in the U.S. who suffer from clinically significant eating disorders at some point during their lives, said Claire Mysko, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA).

“It is impossible to tell if someone has an eating disorder simply by looking at them," Mysko said. "As with many illnesses, eating disorders have serious health effects that, if untreated, may lead to lost productivity and long-term medical problems.”

SMRM recommends that employers and HR tread lightly when dealing with eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia, which are recognized as mental conditions under the Americans with Disabilities Act. "Assuming there are no job-related problems occurring as a result of the individual's weight loss, the employer should be extremely cautious if one chooses to address the issue," SHRM notes. "To do so would be entering into discussions regarding an employee's personal life.”

Mysko recommends employers don’t make assumptions solely on a worker’s outward appearance. "If you are concerned about the health of one of your employees, set up a private meeting with [the] human resources department,” she said.

Congress in December for the first time in history passed legislation to focus on helping people with eating disorders, a release notes.

The 21st Century Cures Act included language from The Anna Westin Act, which was named for Minnesota native, Anna Westin, who died at 21 after a five year struggle with anorexia. That language included expansion of health training aimed at helping professionals recognize and treat eating disorders, ensuring insurance policies could not exclude eating disorder treatment and targeting resources to help the public detect eating disorders early. 

President Obama signed the legislation into law Dec. 13, as reported by The Washington Post.