No more 'personal reasons': How Gen Z is breaking workplace taboos on mental health
What was once dismissed as a “personal issue” is becoming a workplace conversation, as Gen Z demands greater openness, empathy and support around mental health.
- Aug 19, 2026,
- Updated Aug 19, 2026 11:07 AM IST
A leave email citing “severe menstrual pain, cramps and discomfort” might once have been softened to “personal reasons” or “health issues”. Not anymore.
The email, sent by a Gen Z employee to Jasveer Singh, co-founder and CEO of dating app Knot Dating, went viral after he shared it on social media, calling it an example of how Gen Z has “killed a lot of unnecessary workplace awkwardness.” The employee was direct about why she could not come to work, while assuring her boss she would remain available if needed.
So, if Gen Z is breaking the taboo around talking about periods at work, is it doing the same for mental health?
The answer appears to be yes not necessarily because Gen Z is more distressed than previous generations, but because it is more willing to acknowledge distress, articulate boundaries and seek help.
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YourDOST’s Decade of Wellness analysis of more than half a million counselling sessions between 2015 and 2025 shows a shift in help-seeking patterns. Sessions during working hours rose from 54.7% before the pandemic to 56.4% post-pandemic, while weekday sessions increased from 55.86% to 57.61%.
The shift is particularly visible among younger employees. Data shared by Sanjay Desai, Founder & CEO of holistic mental wellbeing platform ConsciousLeap, shows that mental wellness utilisation across India Inc has grown 44% since 2023, while counselling use among employees aged 20–25 has risen 203% over two years.
“Gen Z has moved workplace mental health to the centre of how they think about performance. They openly name anxiety, poor sleep, loneliness and burnout as part of everyday work life, and what they ask for in return is simple: access, privacy, and a workplace that does not penalise them for struggling,” says Desai.
Richa Singh of online counselling and emotional wellness platform YourDOST, however, draws a distinction between higher visibility of distress and higher levels of distress itself. “What has changed most dramatically is not simply the level of distress, but our relationship with it. Younger employees are much more willing to name what they are experiencing, seek support and expect mental health to be part of the workplace conversation.”
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From therapy benefit to workplace culture
For years, the corporate response was largely benefit-led: Employee Assistance Programmes, counselling sessions and wellness campaigns. But younger employees are increasingly asking what the workplace is doing to help them remain well in the first place.
“For Gen Z, mental health is becoming part of the employment proposition. Younger employees are asking not only, ‘Will this organisation support me when I am struggling?’ but also, ‘Can I grow here, speak honestly here and remain well while doing good work?’” says Singh.
That expands the conversation to workload, manager behaviour, psychological safety, belonging, flexibility and boundaries.
The gap between asking for help and using it
Yet openness does not automatically translate into help-seeking. Desai says nearly 26.6% of employees who book counselling sessions never attend, even as one in three employees who begin therapy now return for multiple sessions, a sign that stigma has eased but not disappeared.
In one YourDOST programme involving blue- and white-collar employees, counselling utilisation increased by 30% following regular orientations, on-ground engagement, personalised interventions and peer-support initiatives.
“The question for organisations is shifting from ‘Do we provide mental-health support?’ to ‘Do our people actually feel comfortable using it?’ Access matters, but awareness, trust and normalisation are what turn a benefit on paper into support that employees genuinely use,” says Singh.
Priyanka Anand, Vice President & Head of HR, Ericsson Southeast Asia, Oceania & India says the gaps often lie in consistency and confidence . “Employees may know support exists but still feel unsure about using it or about how their manager will respond.”
That makes managers an increasingly important link between workplace culture and mental-health support.
“Managers don’t need to become therapists. But they do need to become better listeners. The cultural shift happens when an employee can say, ‘I’m struggling’, without wondering whether those two words will change how their manager sees their capability or ambition,” she says.
From reactive support to prevention
YourDOST’s decade-long analysis shows why this shift matters. Overall high stress increased by approximately 40% between 2019 and 2024, from 43.79% to 61.44%, while high anxiety nearly doubled from 20.40% in 2020 to 40.40% in 2025.
There is, therefore, a paradox at the heart of the therapy generation. “The encouraging story is that stigma is reducing. The uncomfortable story is that distress isn’t. The next challenge for workplaces is therefore not simply to make counselling available, but to look upstream at the culture, workloads, relationships and management practices that determine whether people remain well in the first place,” says Singh.
Desai says this calls for “a proactive, preventive layer, not just awareness”. Arun Rao, CHRO, Birlasoft, says that means equipping managers to recognise early signs of stress, encourage open conversations and promote sustainable ways of working.
“Organisations must move beyond traditional wellness programmes and focus on building cultures rooted in psychological safety, flexibility, empathy, and trust,” Rao adds.
Gen Z may have started by making it easier to say why they need a day off. But the bigger shift is making it less risky to say when work itself is becoming difficult to cope with. The workplace mental-health conversation is therefore no longer simply about whether companies offer support. It is about whether employees trust the workplace enough to use it and whether organisations are willing to examine what is making people struggle in the first place.
A leave email citing “severe menstrual pain, cramps and discomfort” might once have been softened to “personal reasons” or “health issues”. Not anymore.
The email, sent by a Gen Z employee to Jasveer Singh, co-founder and CEO of dating app Knot Dating, went viral after he shared it on social media, calling it an example of how Gen Z has “killed a lot of unnecessary workplace awkwardness.” The employee was direct about why she could not come to work, while assuring her boss she would remain available if needed.
So, if Gen Z is breaking the taboo around talking about periods at work, is it doing the same for mental health?
The answer appears to be yes not necessarily because Gen Z is more distressed than previous generations, but because it is more willing to acknowledge distress, articulate boundaries and seek help.
MUST READ | India’s companies are no longer just the world’s talent hub. They’re hiring globally
YourDOST’s Decade of Wellness analysis of more than half a million counselling sessions between 2015 and 2025 shows a shift in help-seeking patterns. Sessions during working hours rose from 54.7% before the pandemic to 56.4% post-pandemic, while weekday sessions increased from 55.86% to 57.61%.
The shift is particularly visible among younger employees. Data shared by Sanjay Desai, Founder & CEO of holistic mental wellbeing platform ConsciousLeap, shows that mental wellness utilisation across India Inc has grown 44% since 2023, while counselling use among employees aged 20–25 has risen 203% over two years.
“Gen Z has moved workplace mental health to the centre of how they think about performance. They openly name anxiety, poor sleep, loneliness and burnout as part of everyday work life, and what they ask for in return is simple: access, privacy, and a workplace that does not penalise them for struggling,” says Desai.
Richa Singh of online counselling and emotional wellness platform YourDOST, however, draws a distinction between higher visibility of distress and higher levels of distress itself. “What has changed most dramatically is not simply the level of distress, but our relationship with it. Younger employees are much more willing to name what they are experiencing, seek support and expect mental health to be part of the workplace conversation.”
DON'T MISS | Why government jobs are disappearing even as millions of Indians chase them
From therapy benefit to workplace culture
For years, the corporate response was largely benefit-led: Employee Assistance Programmes, counselling sessions and wellness campaigns. But younger employees are increasingly asking what the workplace is doing to help them remain well in the first place.
“For Gen Z, mental health is becoming part of the employment proposition. Younger employees are asking not only, ‘Will this organisation support me when I am struggling?’ but also, ‘Can I grow here, speak honestly here and remain well while doing good work?’” says Singh.
That expands the conversation to workload, manager behaviour, psychological safety, belonging, flexibility and boundaries.
The gap between asking for help and using it
Yet openness does not automatically translate into help-seeking. Desai says nearly 26.6% of employees who book counselling sessions never attend, even as one in three employees who begin therapy now return for multiple sessions, a sign that stigma has eased but not disappeared.
In one YourDOST programme involving blue- and white-collar employees, counselling utilisation increased by 30% following regular orientations, on-ground engagement, personalised interventions and peer-support initiatives.
“The question for organisations is shifting from ‘Do we provide mental-health support?’ to ‘Do our people actually feel comfortable using it?’ Access matters, but awareness, trust and normalisation are what turn a benefit on paper into support that employees genuinely use,” says Singh.
Priyanka Anand, Vice President & Head of HR, Ericsson Southeast Asia, Oceania & India says the gaps often lie in consistency and confidence . “Employees may know support exists but still feel unsure about using it or about how their manager will respond.”
That makes managers an increasingly important link between workplace culture and mental-health support.
“Managers don’t need to become therapists. But they do need to become better listeners. The cultural shift happens when an employee can say, ‘I’m struggling’, without wondering whether those two words will change how their manager sees their capability or ambition,” she says.
From reactive support to prevention
YourDOST’s decade-long analysis shows why this shift matters. Overall high stress increased by approximately 40% between 2019 and 2024, from 43.79% to 61.44%, while high anxiety nearly doubled from 20.40% in 2020 to 40.40% in 2025.
There is, therefore, a paradox at the heart of the therapy generation. “The encouraging story is that stigma is reducing. The uncomfortable story is that distress isn’t. The next challenge for workplaces is therefore not simply to make counselling available, but to look upstream at the culture, workloads, relationships and management practices that determine whether people remain well in the first place,” says Singh.
Desai says this calls for “a proactive, preventive layer, not just awareness”. Arun Rao, CHRO, Birlasoft, says that means equipping managers to recognise early signs of stress, encourage open conversations and promote sustainable ways of working.
“Organisations must move beyond traditional wellness programmes and focus on building cultures rooted in psychological safety, flexibility, empathy, and trust,” Rao adds.
Gen Z may have started by making it easier to say why they need a day off. But the bigger shift is making it less risky to say when work itself is becoming difficult to cope with. The workplace mental-health conversation is therefore no longer simply about whether companies offer support. It is about whether employees trust the workplace enough to use it and whether organisations are willing to examine what is making people struggle in the first place.