Editor’s Note: This story focuses on the topic of mental health and suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
As more construction workers report suffering from anxiety and depression, more are also seeking help. However, fear and stigma can still be obstacles.
This according to second annual survey of construction workers across the country, commissioned by Chicago-based design-build contractor Clayco and conducted by Atomik Research.
Sixty-four percent of U.S. construction workers reported feelings of anxiety or depression in the past 12 months, up from 54% in 2024. The study found that 44% of construction workers have used mental health services or taken prescribed medication to treat a mental health problem in the past year, compared to 34% the year before.
Even so, 45% feel ashamed to talk about mental health problems and 37% report discrimination for speaking up.
The survey reached a total of 2,000 employees, half job site workers and half construction executives.
Clayco has focused more on “psychological safety” since 2020, said Dan Lester, the company’s vice president of field culture and inclusion, as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted mental health issues. The industry has begun to buck its stoic culture, Lester said, but more work remains.
Here, Lester talks to Construction Dive about the initiative behind the data, analyzing the statistics and how the industry can continue to improve psychological safety.
Editor’s Note: The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
BUILD Immersion: You first took this survey a year ago and now. Why make it annual?
AND LESTER: It is important to have consistent data. We’re all in the data business. We make better decisions as a construction company based on data. One of the things that has been missing is data on how our people are doing. Yes, they got the job done on time, on budget and maybe even safely, but at what cost to them?
Dan Lester
Permission granted by Clayco
The industry didn’t really have a consistent data set. The CDC would come out with some data that would bring construction into the conversation every five years or so. So we said, “Hey, maybe because we’re concerned about this, does it work? Is there something that the industry is doing?”
Last year was the benchmarking phase. This year we had the opportunity to see those numbers increase. The more information we have, the more conversations we have about these things. Then we can have information about whether these efforts to support mental health, psychological safety, are working.
What conversations can you start having as a result of these findings?
One of the biggest challenges is awareness. You have to admit you have a problem. But people who admitted, “Hey, I have a problem,” are paralyzed from talking about it because of the shame and stigma associated with it. More workers reported feeling embarrassed to talk about these things this year.
And some of the people we surveyed also said they had experienced some form of retaliation or discrimination for talking about their mental health challenges. We ask people to speak up, but there is some data that shows that when they do, we will treat them differently.
The data also showed a gap of about 19% between what executives believe they offer in services that support mental health and well-being and what workers feel they actually have available to them. There are people who don’t even know they have services available for assistance. There are opportunities to have conversations there.
What was the most alarming fact you saw in the report? And ultimately, what was the most encouraging find you saw?
I think the most telling piece for me was that among people who have a substance abuse disorder or who had addictive behavior, from alcohol, gambling, or other types of vices, executives in our industry had a higher admission rate of using or having a problem than marketers. There hasn’t been any data I’ve seen to show that. Knowing who we know, it is not unreasonable to think that the executives would have difficulties. They are dealing with high stress and anxiety.
Now, one positive piece of data was the fact that while the number of people who experienced problems or had some form of anxiety or depression increased by around 9%, the same numbers increased on the other side. We’ve seen more people getting support.
So the number of people experiencing challenges is increasing, but the number of people getting help for those challenges is also increasing, which is a good thing.
We are making progress. This is something that can really excite us.
Construction is stressful. The work is dangerous and deadlines can create anxiety. What can industry leaders do about it?
When our CEO got hold of the information he was very concerned about what we could do in terms of prevention. What can we do to prevent people from even becoming depressed or anxious?
So we now have a designated mental health person in the workplace. And we encourage everyone to take some form of psychological safety training every year. Here are some of those things we’re already doing here at Clayco.
Some of the work is physically demanding. And we can’t change that. Some of them may be a poor balance between work and family life. The other thing is the fact that people are away from their families when they travel for work.
Maybe if we can come together as a collective industry and ask ourselves “What are we willing to do together to say these things are not okay to have as standards in our project?”
What is the one step you would recommend contractors take to begin improving their psychological safety practices?
One thing all leaders must do is model vulnerability. If you’re vulnerable first, if you talk about how things challenge you, it gives people the license or the green light to say, “Oh, my leader is talking about it. They took a mental health day. It must be okay for me to take a mental health day.” When you model that vulnerability first, it opens the door and makes it easier for others.
