Duck Score

Tag: anxiety

  • Why we HAD TO write the White Paper on Trust in the Workplace

    Mental health has long been a priority of mine—many of you know this already. It’s what led to Duck Score.

    For over five years, we’ve used Duck Score in meetings as a simple, verbal check-in to gauge the mood of the team. It helped us spot early signs of burnout, stress, or personal struggles that might be affecting performance. And it worked.

    It wasn’t a big deal—just a number and a reason. Yet, it transformed the way teams communicated.

    Then Something Weird Happened…

    When we digitised Duck Score, we expected it to work even better. A tool that could track patterns, offer AI-driven insights, and help teams support each other at scale.

    But suddenly, something that had felt natural in a meeting room became controversial in an enterprise setting.

    🛑 People didn’t want to log their score.
    🛑 They didn’t trust the system.
    🛑 They worried about how their data would be used.

    We tried explaining. Over and over. We reinforced privacy, clarified data policies, made everything optional—but nothing shifted.

    It wasn’t a misunderstanding. It wasn’t about awareness. It was deeper.

    The Real Issue? Trust.

    So, we stopped guessing and started listening.

    We invested in actual research, surveying over 500 employees across different industries and seniority levels. We ran qualitative interviews, asking professionals what it would take for them to genuinely engage with workplace mental health support.

    The results were clear:

    🔹 65% of employees said they’d only share mental health struggles with select trusted colleagues—not workplace tools.
    🔹 Career fear is real—many worry their mental health data could be used against them in performance reviews.
    🔹 Senior leaders aren’t immune—even those advocating for mental health struggle to disclose their own challenges.

    Why We Had to Write This White Paper

    If businesses are serious about mental health in the workplace, they can’t just offer support—they have to build systems that people trust enough to use.

    That’s why we wrote The Trust Paradox—a practical playbook for organisations looking to bridge the gap between offering mental health support and actually making it work.

    In it, we outline:
    ✅ Why traditional workplace mental health programs fail (even with good intentions).
    ✅ What employees actually need to feel safe using them.
    ✅ A new framework for trust-first mental health initiatives.

    It’s not too long, not too boring—just clear, practical insights for leaders who want to get this right.

    Read the full white paper here →

    Final Thought

    Trust isn’t built through policies. It’s built through actions, transparency, and respect. If employees don’t trust how their mental health data is handled, they won’t engage—no matter how good the initiative sounds.

    This research has changed how we think about workplace mental health at Duck Score—and I hope it helps you too.

  • The Surprising Stability of Our Mental Health: Insights from Duck Score

    At Duck Score, we’ve observed an intriguing trend among our users. Many people begin using our app with the impression that they’re constantly anxious or stressed. However, after consistently tracking their mental state, they’re often surprised to discover a much more stable and positive picture than they initially perceived.

    This phenomenon speaks to a fundamental aspect of human psychology. Research in cognitive psychology has long established that our brains are wired to pay more attention to negative experiences. This ‘negativity bias’ can skew our overall perception of our mental state, making us feel more unstable than we actually are.

    The simple act of daily mental health tracking can be revelatory. Consistent tracking creates a habit of self-reflection, allowing users to see patterns over time rather than focusing on momentary lows. This insight aligns with broader trends in mental health research. Studies have shown that people often overestimate the impact of negative events on their overall well-being.

    By providing a daily check-in, Duck Score offers users a more balanced view of their mental health journey. Quantifying our experiences can lead to surprising insights. It’s not about ignoring negative feelings, but about putting them in perspective.

    Of course, this doesn’t mean that mental health challenges aren’t real or significant. Rather, it underscores the importance of awareness and perspective in managing our mental well-being. Sometimes we don’t realise how resilient we are until we step back and look at the bigger picture.

    The simplicity of tracking one’s mental state daily can have profound effects. Just as people are often surprised by how simple it is to maintain physical health habits, they’re amazed at how impactful daily mental health tracking can be.

    At Duck Score, we believe that mental health awareness is a powerful tool, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. By providing a simple, daily check-in, we’re helping users gain a more accurate picture of their mental state over time.

    This trend highlights the gap between our perception and reality. By bridging this gap, we can empower people to better understand and manage their mental health.

    In a world that often feels chaotic and stressful, it’s heartening to discover that we might be more stable and resilient than we give ourselves credit for. And sometimes, all it takes to uncover this truth is a simple daily practice of self-reflection.

    Have you ever been surprised by the stability of your own mental health? We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.