Mental health in hospitality: 65% of managers cite work

Almost two-thirds of hospitality managers who have experienced a mental health problem in adult life say it was triggered by their work, according to the 2026 Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey published by the charity Hospitality Action.

The figure is 65%. The survey was carried out over the summer in association with the technology company Agilysys and covers hospitality staff across the United Kingdom, with the responses from managers reported separately from those of the wider workforce.

The charity says the results describe a group asked to look after the wellbeing of others while carrying its own. It reports that 61% of managers had been asked to support a colleague experiencing a mental health difficulty in the past year, compared with 40% among hospitality professionals overall.

The people asked to hold the team together report carrying the same load themselves.

What the mental health survey reports

Not every finding points the same way. Around two-thirds of respondents told the survey they have a good work-life balance and that their workplace has created an environment where mental health can be discussed openly. Some 54% said they feel their wellbeing is supported by their organisation.

Hospitality Action publishes the survey annually and says the section on managers was expanded this year. The summary released this week does not state a sample size.

What managers say they need

Asked what would help, 47% of respondents said they wanted more management training so that leaders can recognise a wellbeing concern and respond to it. The charity says training is the request that has grown most across its recent surveys.

The summary does not break the results down by size of business or by segment of the industry, and it does not name employers. It sets the manager responses against the whole sample rather than against a previous year, so no direction of travel is stated.

The findings arrive in a year in which the sector has been losing sites. UK hospitality was closing at about twenty venues a day this spring, and Whitbread closed 106 Beefeater restaurants on 10 September. Hospitality Action says the full survey will be published later in the year. Its helpline is open to anyone working in the industry.