Mental Wellbeing at Work: Perspectives of Software Engineers

Abstract

Software engineers exhibit higher burnout and suicide rates compared to many other information workers. Consequently, mental wellbeing is a growing concern to technology organizations. To better understand the challenges of supporting mental wellbeing in the context of the work of software engineering, we conducted 14 interviews with software engineers. We examine the different aspects of their lived experiences with mental wellbeing at work, their strategies for managing mental wellbeing, the challenges they face in using these strategies, and recommendations they have for mental wellbeing technologies. We contribute to the HCI literature by discussing how mental wellbeing should be considered within the context of work across individual, team, and organization levels, and highlight the need for integrating mental wellbeing into the technologies employees use at work.