Philippine workers are reporting high levels of mental health struggles that directly impact their professional performance, with 82 percent of employees working while mentally or physically unwell at least one day a week.
According to the TELUS Mental Health Index, 55 percent of the local workforce states that their mental health negatively affects their productivity.
The report, which surveyed 2,000 respondents between July 24 and August 5, 2026, found that 48 percent of workers often end their day feeling mentally or physically exhausted. This exhaustion costs the economy: those reporting regular exhaustion lose an estimated 49.5 working days annually in productivity, compared to 29.7 days for those who did not regularly feel exhausted.
Financial instability is a primary driver of this mental health decline. Half of the workers surveyed identified personal finances as their main source of stress, and 54 percent reported lacking emergency savings to cover basic needs, according to TELUS Health.
Data indicates that this financial strain creates a clear divide across industries. While public-sector workers recorded a mental health score of 68, domestic and household workers scored the lowest at 55.3. Even the highest-performing sectors failed to reach the 80-point threshold considered optimal for mental wellbeing.
Despite the prevalence of these challenges, many employees fear the consequences of seeking help. Seventy-seven percent of workers fear their career options would be limited if their workplace knew of a mental health issue.
Jamie MacLennan, the Asia-Pacific regional head for TELUS Health, stated, "Workplace culture and cultural stigma are barriers to workforce wellbeing in the Philippines." He noted that "this silent suffering is costing companies in lost productivity," and urged leaders to provide managers with training to create judgment-free support systems.
The impact of "presenteeism"—where employees are physically present but cognitively disengaged—is a major concern for the Philippine economy. Employees who work unwell four or five days a week record an estimated annual productivity loss of 64.1 to 71.1 days, compared to 17.3 days for those who never work while unwell.
Writing for the Inquirer, a member of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) health committee emphasized that flexible work arrangements and manageable workloads should be viewed as strategic retention tools to safeguard valuable talent.
Why are younger workers more affected?
TELUS Health reports that employees under 40 are twice as likely as those over 50 to identify mental health as their primary personal stressor and to report experiencing constant stress. They were also 70 percent more likely to end the workday feeling mentally or physically exhausted.
What are the biggest barriers to accessing care? Cost was the most commonly reported barrier to mental health support, cited by 52 percent of workers.
How has the perception of mental health changed since 2022?
The situation has become more concerning since 2022; at that time, the national index was 65, whereas now the percentage of Filipino workers at high mental health risk has increased from 31 percent to 37 percent.