‍By Sarah Rauzin, MPH, CPH, Director of Health Strategy & Insights

In this month’s edition of HAA Insights, a panel of HR, benefits, and corporate health leaders shared how stigma shows up across dimensions of health.

Organizations Generally Place a Higher Priority on Issues Perceived as More Stigmatized – With Some Notable Exceptions

Patterns emerged across five distinct domains:

Common mental health challenges: Panelists recognize that common mental health conditions and stressors, like depression, anxiety, and financial insecurity, are commonly stigmatized, and encouragingly, that recognition translates into greater organizational priority.

Complex mental health conditions: Severe mental illness and substance use disorders tell a more complicated story. Both carry similar stigma levels to depression and anxiety, but receive meaningfully lower organizational priority despite higher costs and greater mortality risk. 

Physical health: The physical health domain averages at moderate priority levels with lower perceived stigma. In this area, obesity/weight management stands out as the most stigmatized, yet it receives relatively lower priority compared to other physical health conditions.

Women’s health: Women's health challenges, including caregiving, maternal health, menopause, and family planning, are perceived by benefits leaders as having lower stigma than other physical health areas, but also receive lower organizational priority. 

Sexual health: Sexual health conditions like HIV/AIDS and STIs are significant outliers in the trend. While panelists believe sexual health issues face higher average stigma compared to physical and women’s health domains, they sit at the bottom of organizational priority lists.

HR Leaders Believe Addressing Stigma Matters, but May Miss How It’s Showing Up in Their Own Workplace

• 71% of panelists agree that addressing health stigma would improve employee health outcomes, and 63% agree it would improve productivity. None disagreed.
• Yet, nearly half (45%) believe health stigma is not a significant issue in their workplace, despite the fact that only 26% say they have adequate tools to identify health needs employees may be reluctant to disclose.

Mental Health Stigma Often Gets the Spotlight, but Employees Face Stigma for Other Conditions, Too 

For example:

• Over half of U.S. employees live with chronic physical health conditions, yet 60% of these employees have not disclosed their health issues to their employer, due to concerns about job impacts.
• Even though nearly every working woman will at some point go through the menopause transition, only 2% of women say they would be comfortable talking to HR about their menopause needs.
• Although HIV is both preventable and treatable, nearly 90% of Americans believe there is still a stigma around HIV. Many people living with HIV avoid or discontinue care due to fear of discrimination, and 33% choose not to disclose their diagnosis. 

Employee Silence Is Distorting Benefits Strategy

When asked how stigma shows up in the workplace, 74% of panelists say that stigmatized issues simply aren't discussed. And over half (51%) admit that employees likely avoid discussing these conditions with HR or managers. 

Nearly half (45%) of panelists suspect this silence is suppressing demand signals in their data. And over a third of these panelists said they changed their approach to benefit design in response:

• “We are trying to run campaigns talking about mental health more openly and speak to what we offer for assistance in our EAP and benefit plan to show employees that we want them to speak about it and get help, to show others that this is something we are encouraging rather than looking down on.”
• “We suspected there may be some stigma around openly expressing financial stress. Rather than relying solely on the survey results, we decided to move forward and offer a financial wellness platform to employees. Since launching, utilization has been strong, reinforcing that the need was there even if it wasn’t fully reflected in the survey responses. It was a good reminder for us that quieter topics, especially those tied to personal or sensitive challenges, may require a more proactive approach rather than waiting for overwhelming demand.”

HR Leaders Are on the Frontlines of Communicating About Sensitive Health Topics

80% of panelists say their HR and benefits team is primarily responsible for communicating to employees about sensitive health topics. And most take this responsibility seriously; 75% said their organization has made intentional efforts to address health stigma. Most commonly:

• 43% use inclusive language in benefits communication
• 34% train managers on responding to health disclosures
• And 31% have implemented policy changes, such as ensuring mental health leave is treated like any other leave

New AI Health Solutions Are Viewed With Skepticism

New point solutions position AI chatbots as a low-barrier entry point for disclosure of sensitive health conditions, but less than one in four (23%) of our panelists believe that employees would be more likely to disclose sensitive health needs to an AI-powered tool than to HR or a manager, and only one in five are considering or actively implementing AI tools to help identify or respond to employee health needs.

As more AI-driven point solutions enter the market, the American Psychological Association has released helpful health advisory guidelines outlining considerations for safe, ethical development and application.

National Awareness Days Offer a Great Opportunity To Plug In

The majority (63%) of panelists say their organization participates in awareness days or months to promote health benefits and/or educate their workforce. The top national awareness events where employers are plugging in include Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October (43%), Mental Health Awareness Month in May (40%), and American Heart Month in February (37%).

• For a comprehensive calendar of national health awareness events, check out this list by the Society for Public Health Education.
• For ways to plug into Mental Health Awareness Month this May, explore Mental Health America’s action guide as well as HAA’s Love, Your Mind Employer Toolkit, full of customizable, plug-and-play materials based on the national campaign.

Panelists Shared Useful Tips From Their Experiences in the Field

Lessons from how HR leaders have approached mental health stigma are widely transferable to other health domains.

• Don’t wait for employees to raise their hands.
  “When access to support depends on employees identifying themselves or sharing sensitive health information, utilization has always seemed to drop, especially for conditions that carry stigma.”
• Make access easy (and private) by design.
  “If something feels too visible or complicated to use, employees just won’t use it. That’s especially true for anything tied to more sensitive health concerns. People are much more likely to use a benefit when it’s easy to access, clearly confidential, and doesn’t require going through a manager.”
• Frame health as an everybody issue.
  “It helps when it’s positioned as something for everyone, not tied to a specific issue. Making it feel normal and low-pressure really makes a difference.”
  “If a benefit requires employees to identify themselves with a sensitive condition, the people who need it most often won’t use it. Embedding support into broader well-being offerings and providing multiple, low-barrier entry points allow employees to access care without labeling themselves.”‍
• Equip your managers.
  “Ensure front-line leaders have the tools and training to appropriately and proactively address employee behaviors.”
  “Talk about the benefits of providing those resources and how it impacts work productivity. It would be a selling point to supervisors if it says this benefit decreases employee absences.”‍
• Engage your executive leadership.
  “If c-suite executives were more open about these topics and advocate for more awareness, I believe it would be an easier topic to support and have conversations about.”‍
• Remember: The way you talk about health matters.
  “For more sensitive health conditions, how you position and communicate the benefit can be just as important as offering it in the first place.”

And the best part? The efforts pay off.

“By focusing on confidentiality, accessibility, and overall well-being, and by integrating mental health into broader wellness initiatives, we’ve seen improved awareness and engagement while helping reduce stigma.”

Your Next Step

Has your organization seen success in supporting employee mental health? Identify another health area in your organization that may be getting less attention, and see if applying strategies from your mental health approach can make a difference. Don’t forget to share with us at hello@healthaction.org. 

Methodology

This month’s insights were collected in April 2026 from 35 leaders in HR, benefits, and corporate wellness who participate in HAA’s Research Panel. They represented a diverse mix of large (37%), medium (20%), and small (43%) U.S. employers. Collectively, their organizations reach more than 408,000 workers across a wide range of industries.

Acknowledgment 

This month’s HAA Insights Poll was developed with contributions from the Stop Stigma Together Workplace Taskforce. Stop Stigma Together is a national coalition uniting organizations across disciplines to end the stigma surrounding mental health and substance use disorders.

Join the Conversation and Get Paid for Your Insights

Leaders in HR, benefits, health and safety, and corporate wellness are invited to join HAA’s research panel, where you’ll share your expertise and insights to help inform free resources that support your efforts in workplace health.