London – Men are more likely than women to suffer mental health problems brought on by work and less likely to seek help, the charity Mind has said.

Its survey of 15,000 employees found 1,763 of them had poor mental health. A third of men attributed that to their job and 14% said the source was outside work.

In contrast, women generally found their job and external problems equally stressful.

Mind said men and women, workers and managers, should all be able to come forward and talk about any problems, according to “BBC”.

It said men were less likely to feel they could talk about their jobs’ impact on their wellbeing, or to have the tools to support people with mental health problems.

The charity asked employees at 30 companies signed up to its Workplace Wellbeing Index. They include large organisations like Deloitte, HMRC, the Environment Agency, Jaguar Land Rover and PepsiCo.

It also found that men were less likely to seek help or take time off – 29% had been absent for such problems, compared with 43% of women.

Also, only a third of men felt their organisation’s culture made it possible to speak about mental health issues; 38% of women felt this.

Men were more inclined to try to deal with problems alone, or to cope by watching TV, exercising, or drinking.

Mind’s Madeleine McGivern said: “Women feel more able to come forward. And women as line managers feel more equipped to support people with mental health problems.

“It’s about trying to balance the playing field – we need all employers to encourage people at work to be having conversations about mental health, to normalise those conversations.”