The gender wellbeing gap costs organisations billions in lost productivity and talent. Here's what the data reveals about why women are burning out faster—and what employers must do differently.
The gender pay gap remains a critical issue, but it's not the only inequality shaping women's working lives today. There's also a wellbeing gap, a lesser-known but equally damaging divide driven by burnout, unpaid caregiving, financial vulnerability and life-stage health transitions such as menopause. These pressures are among the most common yet least supported experiences for working women, and research shows they're affecting organisational performance as much as individual wellbeing.
Supporting women’s wellbeing is more than a health priority. It's a workforce imperative. Women make up 47.7 per cent of the global workforce and play an essential role in economic and social progress. Research shows that companies that harness their full talent potential are 39 per cent more likely to outperform financially, while gender-diverse teams also generate 19 per cent higher revenue due to innovation.
But without meaningful support, organisations risk losing these advantages. As mental health challenges grow more widespread, their impact is increasingly visible across core aspects of business performance. Declines in productivity, reduced engagement, rising turnover and burnout are taking a toll on the workforce and research from our TELUS Mental Health Index (MHI) demonstrates that social isolation and financial stress are amplifying these effects.
Beyond economics, there's a moral imperative. Women deserve workplaces that recognise their contributions and the realities of their lives, from caregiving demands and financial vulnerabilities to significant health transitions like menopause.
Research from the MHI, which tracks the mental wellbeing of working populations across 12 countries, confirms this wellbeing gap is both measurable and global. The Index uses a 0 to 100 scoring scale, where scores below 80 indicate mental health strain and future risk. Since the Index launched, women have consistently reported lower mental health scores than men across nearly every region measured.
For example, in Europe, women report significantly lower mental health scores than men – a gap unchanged since 2022. In South Korea, women scored 53 compared to 57.9 for men. In Canada, women's scores trail men's by approximately four points (61.8 vs to 66.4), and similar gaps exist across the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Singapore is the recent exception where scores between genders have now equalised at 63.3 – both well below the optimum range.
Women are also 50 per cent more likely than men to report extreme burnout, raising concern not just for wellbeing but for workforce sustainability. One contributing factor that warrants specific attention is menopause, which often gets addressed as a mental health concern rather than recognised as a distinct physiological transition affecting millions of working women.
Work-life balance pressures are one of the strongest contributors to mental strain among women. With wellbeing being shaped both inside and outside the workplace, women's disproportionate caregiving responsibilities create a chronic strain that follows them into working hours and compounds their mental health risk.
Across surveyed countries, family responsibilities are repeatedly linked to sleep disruption, fatigue and reduced ability to focus at work. In Australia, for instance, 29 per cent of workers say family responsibilities disrupt their sleep, while in Spain and Singapore, 39 per cent and 33 per cent of workers say family duties affect their ability to rest and recover, respectively.
Sleep disruption is more than a wellness issue – it directly affects work. In Canada, 43 per cent of workers say poor sleep reduces their ability to concentrate, and in France, 26 per cent report lower productivity as a result. In Germany, women are more than twice as likely to report difficulty managing stress, contributing to poor sleep habits. In South Korea, 40 per cent of workers are dissatisfied with the quality of their sleep, with 41 per cent naming work stress as a leading factor contributing to poor sleep.
Financial stress is affecting women more severely in 10 of the 12 countries surveyed, with New Zealand and Singapore as exceptions. When financial strain increases, women are more likely than men to reduce spending on their own health needs, which leads to a decline in mental wellbeing over time, according to MHI data.
Across the 10 countries, the majority of workers lack confidence in their financial future, with women disproportionately affected by financial insecurity. In the U.S., for example, finances have been the leading source of personal stress for the second consecutive period, with women twice as likely to feel financially vulnerable. This vulnerability is reinforced by a lack of emergency savings, which has profound effects on worker wellbeing. In Italy, workers without emergency savings score significantly lower on mental health measures (40.9) compared to the overall group (57.0) and those with emergency savings (66.8).
This financial insecurity creates a compounding cycle – women under financial strain cut spending on their own health and wellness, which further deteriorates their mental wellbeing and ability to perform at work. In the United Kingdom, 18 per cent say they've cut back on health and wellness spending due to financial pressure, with women 40 per cent more likely than men to have made this adjustment. The mental health score of this group is more than 13 points lower on the MHI than the national average.
Research from Vira Health and Korn Ferry found that 47 per cent of women said health symptoms disrupted their work. The findings showed that 40 per cent experienced six or more symptoms affecting performance, yet very few received workplace support. Nearly one-third have quit or considered leaving during this life stage.
Vira Health CEO, Andrea Berchowitz said: “Menopause often hits at a critical career stage and there needs to be better care options if we want to seriously increase the number of women in leadership roles. The average age of a new CEO and the average age of menopause is 51. In the UK alone, about 14 million lost working days and 1 million premature career exits can be attributed to menopause. This isn’t going to change without connecting more women with the information and care options they deserve, that’s why we built Vira Health.”
The Mayo Clinic estimates the U.S. economy loses over US $26 billion annually due to menopause-related productivity loss and medical costs, a figure that doesn’t account for reduced hours, early retirement or job changes. On a personal level, menopause costs U.S. women an estimated $1.8 billion in lost working time per year.
Andrea adds: "Women can struggle at all life stages, not just menopause, including fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and managing a range of hormonal health conditions. This is why Vira Health has expanded its support beyond perimenopause and menopause to cover all of women's health within a single platform available through TELUS Health."
Menopause is one of the most significant health transitions in a woman's life, yet few employers acknowledge it in policy or practice. An estimated 20 per cent of working women are in perimenopause or menopause, making this one of the significant workforce demographics.
In North America, approximately one-third of women workers are currently experiencing perimenopause or menopause, yet the majority – 67 per cent in the U.S. and 75 per cent in Canada – did not feel informed or prepared when entering this transition.
The disparities in mental health outcomes across gender groups highlight that different demographics require tailored support. The data reveals what works. Across Europe, for example, employees rating their employer's mental health support as excellent score 11 points higher on the MHI than those with poor support. Workers with excellent employer support for mental wellbeing are also more productive, losing, on average, 36 days per year compared to nearly 59 days lost by those with poor support. In addition, those rating their managers as excellent are:
Across all surveyed regions, 37 per cent of employees would choose better wellbeing support over a 10 per cent salary increase.
What effective organisations are doing differently:
The gender wellbeing gap isn't inevitable. Organisations that act intentionally to help build comprehensive support that acknowledges the full complexity of women's lives can retain talent, strengthen leadership pipelines and create cultures where everyone thrives. The data confirms the cost of inaction. The only question is whether we're ready to close the gap.
Explore the TELUS Health Mental Health Index to unlock more data and actionable insights for your organisation.