Dive Brief:
- Workers with "imposter syndrome" — "a term that describes high-achieving individuals who ... fail to internalize their accomplishments and have persistent self-doubt and fear of being exposed as an impostor" — have lower job satisfaction, higher burnout and perform poorly, according to a Dec. 19 study by Crossover Health.
- Imposter syndrome affects both men and women across all age groups in many industries, the study said.
- Workers who belong to ethnic minority groups exhibit higher rates of imposter syndrome, Crossover Health concluded.
Dive Insight:
Mental health is no longer ignored in the workplace. Studies show that workers are looking to their employers to address mental health issues at work, especially stress and burnout. Still, changes are slow. Less than half of 1,500 workers from Mind Share Partners, SAP and Qualtrics revealed in a survey that they thought mental health was a priority at their workplaces. An overwhelming majority (86%) said they thought employers should support mental health.
Also, most workers (76%) were convinced in an Unum survey released in April that managers are trained to spot and address mental health issues at work; only a quarter of HR managers said they felt the same way. This disconnect between workers and HR may make getting burnout and other mental health challenges under control in the workplace more difficult. HR can provide training to help managers spot troubling behavior or performance problems among employees.
