Economic pressures take mental toll on business leaders

Two in three high-net-worth individuals and nearly all chief executive officers in Hong Kong have had bouts of mental ill health amid immense pressures over the struggling economy, a survey has found.

Sixty-six percent of the city's HNWIs and 96 percent of its CEOs revealed they had symptoms of poor mental health in the past 12 months, according to the Bupa Global survey.

HNWIs are defined as people whose annual salary and investments are over 1 million or HK$9.3 million a year.

The major worries that keep CEOs awake at night are meeting environmental, social and governance goals (37 percent), work-life balance (27 percent) and economic uncertainty or recession (25 percent). ESG has become a compelling issue, adding to the pressure of meeting other company goals, one of the highest among all sectors. However, meeting goals without impacting profits or operations in the current economic and geopolitical climate is not clear and the resulting squeeze from inflation on profitability has seen 17 percent of executives cut down on ESG investments.

In the midst of mounting pressure and accompanying mental health challenges, top executives and HNWIs are joining the great resignation. The outflow of bosses is also expected to have a geographical impact as well, with 13 percent of chief executives planning to relocate out of the city, and 10 percent want to migrate to another country.

HNWIs in the city are eyeing new opportunities, with 38 percent planning to make a major career change within the next year, including reducing working hours, taking up consulting or freelancing, retiring or quitting work completely.]