Blog: Detour From Hell; The Mind of a Hot Mess

The Grass Isn’t Green Anywhere — Every Industry Has Its Own Battle

Throughout my career, I’ve worked in a range of environments — corporate offices over the past decade and a half, customer-facing roles from middle school through college, and other high-pressure workplaces — and no matter the setting, one thing remained consistent: people were obviously, but quietly, overwhelmed. Mental health was always present, shaping communication, performance, and behavior, yet rarely acknowledged in any meaningful way. Many employees were simply trying to get through the day, masking exhaustion, anxiety, or burnout because there was no safe space to talk about it — something I experienced firsthand.

That lived experience is one of the reasons I created Serene Efficiency. Mental health directly impacts productivity, safety, communication, and retention. While mental-health diagnoses are legally protected as disabilities — making discrimination illegal — the reality inside many workplaces looks very different. When discrimination does occur, pursuing justice is often extremely difficult unless the case is clear, well-documented, and financially supported — and even then, many people fear retaliation or having their credibility questioned. As a result, many people remain silent. Despite how common it is, workplace discrimination continues to impact employee mental health and retention, affecting nearly 50% of workers according to recent data.

When someone is struggling internally, it eventually shows externally — not because they’re weak or unmotivated, but because they’re human. Still, many organizations misinterpret mental-health challenges as incompetence rather than recognizing them as systemic, organizational, or communication issues. When that happens, employees are often set up for failure before they ever have the tools or support to succeed in the first place. And that is where the idea for Serene Efficiency was born.

With as big an issue as this is, and as little as we hear about it because of the stigma, this is an issue that needs to be addressed. And in 2025, many companies want to project a caring image, so “inclusion and diversity” is huge (though I didn’t notice it getting better). I want to work with businesses to advocate and educate the workforce and work with managers on how they can better communicate (and in turn work better) with employees who are struggling, and some different tips on training. I don’t believe businesses realize the damage they are doing themselves by not giving these employees a chance, or by hiring and replacing different roles, over and over.

As I began researching mental health by industry, a clear pattern emerged. Burnout, stress, stigma, and addiction exist everywhere. The pressures differ, and the emotional harm may look different from one field to another, but the outcomes — for both people and businesses — are remarkably similar.

Today, I want to break this down by industry to raise awareness of what workers are still facing in 2025 — and to show that the grass isn’t green anywhere. Every industry has issues that need to be addressed, some more urgently than others. While I wish I could go deeper into every field, especially those I don’t have personal experience in, shorter sections do not reflect lesser impact. I could give pages of statistics from each industry. So if you want to know more about breaking out each one into different blogs, let me know! As of now, that is not a plan, though. These challenges exist across all industries, often at a much larger scale than most people realize.

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What Issues These Industries Have in Common

Before breaking this down by industry, it’s important to acknowledge the shared challenges across workplaces so they don’t need to be repeated in every section. While each industry has its own pressures, many of the underlying problems — and many of the solutions — are the same.

Across industries, familiar patterns emerge: unclear expectations, inconsistent communication, chronic understaffing, lack of emotional safety, and leadership operating under sustained pressure. Employees are often expected to adapt without guidance, absorb stress without complaint, and keep moving even when systems are unclear or constantly changing — often mirroring the pressure leaders themselves are under.

Tone plays a critical role in workplace culture. While employees are responsible for managing their reactions, leaders also carry responsibility for self-awareness. Communication that lacks clarity, patience, or emotional regulation frequently creates problems that never needed to exist in the first place.

Construction is one of the clearest examples of how this communication style became normalized — not because people are bad, but because the culture was built that way and rarely challenged. So I figured it was a good way to start the conversation.

🏗️ Construction & Skilled Trades

• Suicide rate 4–5× higher than the national average
• 83% of workers report mental-health struggles
• Workers are 5× more likely to die by suicide than from a job-site accident
• One of the highest rates of substance-use disorder
• Opioid misuse rates nearly double the national average

Construction is often discussed only in terms of physical danger, but the mental and emotional strain is just as severe. In many cases, the industry has become one of the most toxic environments for mental health because harmful communication has been normalized. Long hours, physically demanding labor, seasonal instability, chronic pain, and constant pressure to perform create sustained stress. On job sites, communication is often rushed, blunt, and delivered through yelling, cursing, name-calling, or sarcasm that crosses into emotional abuse.

This culture isn’t isolated to one company. I come from a family that ran a flooring business for over 20 years, spent time on job sites as a child, and still have many close friends working in construction today — and this behavior is widespread across worksites. What is framed as urgency or efficiency is often just unchecked stress passed down the chain.

While many managers are overwhelmed themselves, stress does not excuse a loss of control. Leadership has a responsibility to create a safe, supportive learning environment where employees feel comfortable asking questions without fear of ridicule. Over time, aggressive communication erodes confidence, trust, and morale. For employees managing anxiety, trauma, ADHD, or other mental-health challenges, tone alone can turn a manageable situation into unnecessary distress and even create new mental-health issues.

Promising improvement without real change isn’t enough. This is where meaningful management training matters — learning emotional regulation, pausing before reacting, and communicating clearly and respectfully, even under pressure. Yelling may produce short-term compliance, but it rarely leads to quality work. High stress and fear-based management ultimately reduce performance, compromise safety, and hurt everyone involved.

🏥 Healthcare Workers

• 46% report burnout
• 49% of physicians meet burnout criteria
• 93% experience high stress
• 76% report exhaustion
• 75% feel overwhelmed
• 46% are experiencing Burnout
• 1 in 3 of Physicians is considering leaving the field
• Higher-than-average prescription drug misuse
• Alcohol-use disorder rates exceed the general workforce

Healthcare workers operate in environments defined by urgency, responsibility, and constant exposure to trauma. They are expected to perform at a high level while managing life-and-death situations, while also experiencing challenges outside of the workplace at home, emotionally charged interactions with patients and families, and relentless time pressure. At the same time, workplace culture often reinforces the idea that the patient must always come first — even when the worker is mentally or emotionally depleted. The healthcare system needs to do a better job of supporting its workforce and ensuring staff are stable, supported, and resourced, because patient care ultimately depends on the well-being of those providing it.

A major contributor to burnout in healthcare is the ethical and moral responsibility — knowing what care a patient needs but being unable to provide it due to staffing shortages, administrative constraints, or resource limitations. In many cases, these limitations are entirely outside the worker’s control, forcing them to do the best they can with what they have. Over time, repeatedly being placed in that position erodes empathy, confidence, and emotional resilience. It also creates significant legal and ethical pressure, placing healthcare workers in a difficult position where the risks extend beyond emotional burnout and can turn into professional and legal consequences.

👩‍💼 Corporate / Office / Tech

• 66% report burnout
• 44–52% feel emotionally drained
• 76% experience at least one mental-health symptom each year
• 84% say their job increases stress
• 57% of American workers say managers in their workplace could benefit from training on how to be a better manager and 50% feel their own performance would improve if their management received training on how to be a better manager (Quite literally how the idea for Serene Efficiency, LLC was born)
• 62% of tech workers report physically and emotionally exhausted
• Increased alcohol and stimulant use post-2020

This is the environment I am more familiar with in recent years. Corporate environments often appear stable on the surface, but almost every company I have worked at, the same problem existed. There is a persistent mental and emotional pressure underneath. Employees are expected to be responsive, adaptable, and productive at all times (including after hours, weekends, etc.) for the same amount of salary. Priorities shift quickly, workloads expand quietly, and being “busy” is often mistaken for being effective.

Unclear expectations and micromanagement disguised as support leave employees second-guessing themselves. And that second-guessing themselves gets them in an even more difficult position with the management; they don’t feel comfortable asking questions. Many feel pressure to appear capable rather than admit they’re overwhelmed, allowing burnout to grow quietly over time. But a big part of making this better is figuring out a way for leadership not to be so overwhelmed themselves and not to face the same intense pressures. Because I do believe shit rolls downhill in management, even though it’s not right, and it often hits the wrong people who didn’t even do anything wrong, leaving them feeling a lot less confident or content in their role. And that causes stress and possibly mental health issues for someone doing a great job. And that is just not right. But I know that personally, I definitely turned to alcohol in my career (pre-2020), so that statistic is not a newer idea.

🛒 Retail (Grocery, Clothing, Big-Box Stores)

• 84% say their mental health has worsened
• Retail ranks in the bottom 10% for employee wellbeing
• 34% consider quitting due to mental-health strain
• Grocery workers experience anxiety and depression at 2× the national average
• Increased stress-related alcohol use during peak seasons

Retail workers manage constant customer interaction, emotional labor, and multitasking while often being understaffed and scheduled unpredictably. They are expected to remain calm and professional even when facing disrespect or hostility. I remember from my college days how difficult this can be, especially when a customer is talking to you like you’re 12. However, this is where management needs to play a critical role, because most places have the right to deny service. If someone is being inappropriate, show them the door. The customer is not always right. And during the holidays, those demands intensify, turning already stressful roles into daily endurance tests. As a side note to think about: how often have you walked into Walmart and seen the stock boy or any employee, for that matter, who actually looked happy or content? It doesn’t have to be this way.

🍽️ Food & Service Industry (and a little lesson on tipping)

• Depression rates nearly 2× the national average
• 37% report daily high stress
• Turnover exceeds 70%
• 66% of quick-service and fast-casual employees report being stressed about their finances, with 70% of those surveyed stating this stress negatively impacts their mental health
• 72% of employees reporting experiencing discrimination at least a few times annually
• The majority said that the stress was having a negative impact on their emotional well-being (72%), their mental health (70%), and their physical health (64%)
• One of the highest substance-use rates of any industry
• Alcohol misuse is significantly higher than in the general workforce

Food service is fast-paced, unpredictable, and emotionally demanding. Workers juggle constant multitasking, customer expectations, time pressure, and inconsistent income — often all within the same shift. Kitchens can be high-tension environments, while front-of-house staff are expected to maintain composure regardless of treatment. This was my least favorite season for work, by far! And boy, does it get worse around the holidays. I could never wait for it to end. You would think that people would start being more generous with tips, etc., around this time, but I have discovered that is not the case. Do better! Tip the people taking care of you and your family, since you don’t have to do it yourself. It’s not an entitlement to expect a decent tip; it’s a social norm that it’s just the right thing to do. If you argue against that, or call wanting a tip entitlement, think of the audacity and irony there….. (the entitlement someone must have to think that way!)

Also, take care of the people who provide technically “high-end” services for you! These newer delivery services, for example, are not a necessity — they’re more expensive, so why would you not give a tip? Everyone survived before it became a thing during COVID. If you are that broke, don’t get delivery. This includes waitresses, delivery drivers, bartenders, nail techs, valets, maids, and many more. After a quick Google search, I found that you should always provide a tip if the following is true:

• Personally serve the customer
• Service is customer-facing (or in our world today, may be contactless)
• Service takes care, effort, time, attention, and/or their own vehicles
• Worker pay is often structured around tip expectations.
• If you want a complete list of when you should tip (because I know a lot of people don’t know you’re supposed to tip, like housekeeping at a hotel). I had no idea until my mom told me, and since I have stayed with several people who didn’t know – that isn’t your fault – so if interested I found this quick list of general tipping advice

In college, I earned as little as $1.80 an hour as a server at one job because the assumption was that tips would make up the majority of my income — and they did. I was always too young to serve alcohol (which is where the good tips are). Since then, I’ve had a very different experience working in delivery. When you factor in vehicle wear and tear, gas, the time spent driving back from out-of-area deliveries, and the overall time investment, delivery work often involves far more cost and effort than people realize. And I know for a fact a lot of people don’t know how it all works and when to tip or how much.

But for now, much more important issues to discuss.

🧑‍🏫 Education

• 59% experience frequent stress
• 60% report weekly burnout
• Burnout rate 2× the national average
• 78% have considered leaving the profession
• 77% experience symptoms such as anxiety or insomnia

Educators carry immense emotional responsibility. They manage classrooms, support students with increasingly complex needs, navigate administrative demands, while dealing with under-payment, and often sacrificing personal time and their own money to meet expectations. Planning time is reduced, emotional labor is constant, and self-sacrifice is frequently praised — even when the system was never supposed to operate that way. Our teachers should not have to buy their own supplies.

What Opportunities These Industries Have in Common

There are also shared opportunities for improvement across every industry. Leaders who practice genuine self-care tend to be more regulated, more patient, and less reactive. Clear SOPs reduce confusion and anxiety. Written and video-based training allows employees to revisit information without fear of being labeled difficult or incompetent, which matters, as short-term memory challenges are common with many mental-health conditions and are quite literally out of their control. While the environments differ, many industries need to make these same changes to see real, lasting benefits, as trauma and mental-health challenges are becoming more prevalent every day. The world is a far more stressful place today, and it’s becoming increasingly rare to find employees who haven’t experienced some form of mental-health challenge or trauma. And for the few people who’ve had the privilege of not experiencing any of this…. unfortunately, it seems a lot of people don’t care until they or someone they love experiences it. Real-life employee situations can make managers incredibly uncomfortable– I’ve witnessed it. And this is where we need to teach leadership empathy.

Final Thoughts

Burnout, mental-health strain, and substance use are not isolated problems — they are systemic responses to chronic stress, unclear expectations, and unsupported environments. While the settings differ, the underlying patterns remain consistent. Real improvement doesn’t come from blaming individuals; it comes from acknowledging the systems that shape behavior, performance, and well-being, and taking conscious, direct action to make that happen. Managers need to be trained in communicating with employees who are struggling and have empathy training. They need to be trained to teach employees in different ways, even if it isn’t their favorite way: as long as it helps the employee succeed, why not?

Off subject so that I won’t go into detail…. Denmark starts teaching empathy classes at 6 years old (Denmark is in the top 3 happiest countries globally, and it’s considered one of the best places to work. I have also read articles claiming that Denmark has lower rates of bullying and fewer mental health issues among children, etc. And that doesn’t seem like rocket science to me. Why is it so hard in our country to have empathy for others?

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. And if you’re in leadership, small changes in clarity, tone, and support can have a meaningful impact. Take care of yourselves as well. Until we acknowledge the problem, admit our own downfalls, nothing will change — but once we do, everything can.

Hope to talk to you next week! Still working on what that topic will be 🫠🤔😊 have a great week – one more week before the holidays (hope most of you have the week off or at least some of it!).