Half of the UK's tech professionals have been concerned now or in the past about their mental health due to work, according to a survey from Harvey Nash.

The Harvey Nash Tech Survey, which surveyed over 2,000 tech professionals, also found that 1 in 5 workers in IT Operations are currently concerned about their mental health.

While the survey found that companies are ‘relatively supportive’ when it comes to mental health issues, with 77% having at least some kind of support in place, it also found that those companies who are ‘unsupportive’ have almost three times as many workers concerned about their mental health right now as ‘very supportive’ ones.

A similar trend emerged regarding how flexible an employer is on working arrangements: very inflexible businesses are three times more likely than highly flexible ones to have workers with mental health issues (31% versus 9%).

According to Harvey Nash, the single highest cause of stress is being short of staff. The research also showed that hours worked has a direct impact on stress levels, with the tipping point at over 50 hours a week. Tech professionals working these hours are twice as likely to be affected by stress to a great extent, and see their work suffer as a result, than those that work under 50 hours a week.

Albert Ellis, CEO of Harvey Nash, commented, “While it’s understandable that tech leaders are focused on tackling the combined pressures of widespread skills shortages, Brexit planning, and the impact of automation on their business, they still need to look very closely at how they provide support to those members of the tech team that feel overwhelmed by their mounting work load and associated pressures.”