The Big 5 in ITSM: addressing the mental health crisis

As members of itSMF UK, you’re at the forefront of managing services and constantly balancing the demands of people, practices and technology (in that order). This unique position places you at the intersection of several mental health challenges for your teams, organisation, staff, suppliers and customers. In the fast-paced world of service management and technology (digital services), innovation is constant, and the pressure to perform is relentless as a formidable group known as the Big 5 threatens the well-being of professionals at all levels: Anxiety, Stress, Depression, Burnout, and their cultural leader, Stigma.

The alarming statistics of mental health in the IT industry

1. The state of mental health in tech 2023 – According to this report, 60% of tech workers have sought mental health support in the past year, with anxiety and depression being the most common issues2.
2. Tech workers and mental health: the silent struggle (2023) – This study reveals that 70% of IT employees feel their workplace does not provide adequate mental health support, leading to high levels of stress and burnout3.
3. Mental health challenges in the IT sector: a 2023 overview – This overview indicates that 45% of IT professionals have taken time off work due to mental health issues, with many citing a lack of work-life balance as a major factor4.
4. IT service management well-being data – a deeper dive (ITSM.tools) – 61% of respondents stated working in IT had adversely affected their well-being to some extent.

The Big 5 – the gang destroying our mental health in IT!

Anxiety: the persistent worrier. In ITSM, anxiety often manifests as:

• Excessive perfectionism in process design or implementation
• Difficulty making decisions in incident management
• Becoming agitated as incidents keep coming at you
• Becoming nervous as your company lists AI as a significant driver for 2025.

Stress: the relentless pressure cooker. ITSM professionals often experience stress due to the following:

• Tight SLA or XLA targets, especially if they have no relevance to team or customer expectations
• Incident and documentation blame culture
• The constant need to learn new tools and frameworks to keep your role
• Balancing technical and business communication – the watermelon effect, what do you report?
• Decreased innovation due to fear of failure
• High turnover to find a place of safety.

Depression: the silent productivity killer. In my service management teams, depression looked like this:

• Disengagement from initiatives
• Decreased quality in service delivery
• Difficulty concentrating during problem-management events
• Irritation openly expressed to teams or customers
• Lack of caring about whether improvement can be achieved or not
• More sick days
• Impaired team dynamics or with managers, leaders and customers.

Burnout: the ultimate body blow. I knew we had burnout when I saw the following:

• Cynicism towards new frameworks or tools
• Exhaustion that time off didn’t cure
• Decreased efficiency in service delivery or management
• Excessive lateness and absenteeism  
• Disregard for personal reputation
• No longer keeping up with new ways of doing things.

Stigma: the instigator (corporate culture supreme agent). Stigma represents itself as:

• Reluctance to discuss mental health impacts of on-call rotations
• Fear of being seen as ‘not cut out’ for high-pressure ITSM
• Lack of understanding from leadership about mental health needs
• Lack of respect for staff or customer needs as the goal is financial.

Let me be clear: all the above reflect issues seen in IT teams that I have managed or worked with over my 53-year career. However, these issues also affected my peers and me. Worse still, we as leaders created this cultural nightmare of “if you can’t hack IT, then leave IT”.

We also ignored the costs imposed upon us by the Big 5, such as critical but avoidable mistakes (think of the recent news stories), social media barrages, reputational risk, lost customers due to poor service, and staff replacement.

The 8 principles for addressing the Big 5 in ITSM

You may have noticed that I am treating Stigma, Anxiety, Stress, Depression and Burnout as people. For me, doing so means I can see when they are around (symptoms appear), and this lets me create strategies to address their impact on myself as a person, leader, or consultant, as well as my associated teams and customers. Recognising the symptoms as the appear to you, and they will be unique to you, is the first step to overcoming the Big 5.

I needed a model to represent my principles for dealing with the Big 5, which I found in a research paper by Dr Jessica Dark (Frontiers | Eight principles of neuro-inclusion; an autistic perspective on innovating inclusive research methods (frontiersin.org). I have adapted them to our industry as per her creative license agreement. I agree that some examples under one principle may apply to others. I encourage you to use them to establish your framework to deal with Stigma and his gang.

Respect: create an environment where mental health experiences are valued.

• Implement a ‘no questions asked’ mental health day policy
• Lead by example: be open about your mental health experiences and self-care practices
• Educate yourself about mental health manifestations in ITSM environments.
• Prioritise mental health as a critical consideration in ITSM strategy and operations
• Challenge stigma directly by addressing stigmatising behaviour or language in ITSM contexts immediately and educatively.

Representation & inclusion: include diverse perspectives in mental health initiatives.

• Form a mental health advisory board with employees from various ITSM roles
• Create inclusive team environments**: foster a culture where every ITSM role feels valued and supported
• Implement resilience training.

Continuous learning: regularly share mental health information.

• Host monthly ‘mental health in ITSM’ lunch-and-learn sessions
• Ensure that KPIs include measures of employee well-being alongside service metrics
• Implement a ‘quality of life’ metric in your ITSM tool to track team morale
• Promote collaborative and improvement problem management.

Barrier removal: address elements that contribute to mental health challenges.

• Conduct ‘stress audits’ of ITSM processes and redesign high-stress areas
• Provide emotional intelligence training for service desk staff
• Learn to avoid additional responsibilities and establish clear work-life boundaries, which is particularly important in always-on ITSM roles (Kanban or VSM).

Clarity of purpose: align mental health initiatives with organisational goals.

• Include mental health objectives in your ITSM strategy and communicate their business impact
• Use agile methodologies to break large ITSM projects into manageable sprints
• Implement realistic SLA and XLA targets that consider employee well-being
• Encourage regular breaks and time off, especially after major incidents.

Thoughtful communication: use inclusive, non-stigmatising language.

• Develop an ITSM-specific mental health language guide
• Create a culture of openness to encourage open dialogues about mental health
• Make reading The Phoenix Project mandatory
• Share stories of ITSM leaders who have overcome mental health challenges.

Psychological safety: create a safe environment for expressing concerns.

• Implement a ‘mental health allies’ programme within your ITSM team
• Offer remote work options for roles that don’t require on-site presence
• Allow flexible hours in IT roles
• Implement mental health days in addition to regular sick leave
• Teach self-care; prioritise sleep, exercise, and activities that recharge you, especially during high-stress periods like major incidents or audits.

Proactive support: implement support systems before crises occur.

• Use predictive analytics to identify at-risk team members and offer proactive support. Offer confidential counselling services
• Provide mental health first aid training for IT team leaders
• Implement an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) tailored to IT challenges.

Getting started: first steps for itSMF UK members

To address mental health issues in your ITSM organisation:

1. Start the conversation: begin with a town hall meeting dedicated to mental health in your ITSM environment.
2. Assess your current state: ask your team to create KPIs that show issues by gang members (I used to have to pay £5 when I ignored Stigma).
3. Look for team members passionate about mental health to lead initiatives.
4. Review your practices through a mental health lens.
5. Leverage Your ITSM tools to track and manage mental health initiatives.
6. Use your itSMF UK network to share and learn experiences and best practices.
7. Consider bringing in mental health professionals with IT experience.

Conclusion: evolving ITSM for mental well-being

The Big 5 mental health challenges – Anxiety, Stress, Depression, Burnout, and Stigma – represent critical challenges to the way we conceptualise and manage digital services.

As ITSM professionals, we’re adept at optimising processes and improving service delivery. We must apply that same analytical rigour and innovative spirit to our organisation’s mental health. The Big 5 will not be defeated by implementing a new framework or tool but by fundamentally reimagining the technology workplace.

Here are some examples of a better and safer place to work and serve:

• Incident management that blends other practices into a cohesive practice that underpins every aspect of technology delivery and support.
• SLAs that underpin XLAs to ensure that the experience of individuals across the board is fully considered, monitored and improved.
• Adding mental health challenges to Kanban or VSM boards to indicate issues and allow discussions to occur on how to remediate their cause.
• CABs that also approve the mental health impact.
• Managers who admit their guilt in creating unsafe environments and join in activities to make safe better.

The ROI of addressing mental health in ITSM extends beyond reduced sick days or lower turnover. It’s about unlocking our teams’ full creative and problem-solving potential and building resilient organisations capable of navigating the increasingly complex IT landscape. It’s about recognising that the most critical asset in any ITSM organisation isn’t the latest AI-powered tool or the most comprehensive CMDB – it’s our people’s mental health and well-being.

For itSMF UK members, this presents an unprecedented opportunity to lead the initiatives. By integrating mental health considerations into every aspect of ITSM—from strategy to daily operations—we can set a new standard for the industry globally. The itSMF UK Board comprises individuals who fully support mental health as an essential aspect of organisational practice and encourage discussions in workshops, blogs, and at the Annual Conference.

As we move forward, let’s commit to making mental health as integral to ITSM as ITIL or DevOps. Let’s build a new paradigm where thriving, not just surviving, is the norm. The challenges are significant, but so is our collective capacity for innovation and change. The next great technological revolution starts here, prioritising our teams’ mental health.

This blog was written with the assistance of Claude.AI and Grammerly. I am not a mental health expert. I am an IT professional worried about our industry.