Employee well-being and mental health support have become increasingly important in the private healthcare sector, where employees operate in highly demanding and rapidly changing work environments. Private hospitals in Tamil Nadu function within a competitive healthcare ecosystem characterized by long working hours, shift duties, high patient expectations, technological changes, emotional demands, and the need to maintain continuous service quality. These conditions may expose healthcare employees to occupational stress, burnout, work-life imbalance, and reduced job satisfaction.

This study examines employee well-being and mental health support in the context of private hospitals in Tamil Nadu, India. The study focuses on employees' perceptions of counselling services, stress management programmes, wellness activities, work-life balance, management support, job satisfaction, motivation, work engagement, and ability to perform duties effectively. Primary data from 344 valid respondents were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, regression analysis, and One-Way ANOVA. The findings indicate that employee perceptions of mental health support and workplace well-being are moderate, with mean scores ranging from 2.82 to 3.19 on a five-point scale. Management support for wellness activities recorded the highest mean score of 3.19, while the organization of wellness activities recorded the lowest mean score of 2.82.

Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between management support for wellness activities and work-life balance (r = .196, p < .05), as well as between management support and employees' ability to perform duties effectively (r = .249, p < .05). The organization of wellness activities was also positively related to employees' ability to perform their duties effectively (r = .182, p < .05). A positive relationship was observed between manageable stress and work-life balance (r = .166, p < .05). A significant negative relationship was observed between stress management programme conduction and job satisfaction (r = -.226, p < .05), which may indicate that employees experiencing greater stress and lower job satisfaction are more likely to perceive a need for stress management interventions. One-Way ANOVA results indicated no statistically significant differences among departments in perceptions of job satisfaction, stress management, motivation, work-life balance, work engagement, and ability to perform duties effectively.