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Mental Health at Work

If I’m honest, I left 2017 feeling shocked by the extent of the increase in mental health at work issues landing on our desks and the number of clients requiring support to deal with mental health absence situations. Mental health support in the workplace is something that resonates with me and with the pressure everyone around us is feeling, I can only see it becoming a bigger area of focus. In 6 years, the number of days lost to mental health has increased by 26%, resulting in 70 million working days being lost each year due to mental ill health!

When presenting a workshop on mental health at work late last year, when I asked people “Who knows someone who has suffered or suffers from a mental health condition?”, 95% of the audience put their hands up. So, what does this say?  Unfortunately, mental health conditions are a growing epidemic and they require employers to take stock and think about:

  • Is your business a good place to work?
  • Ways to support employees with mental health concerns.
  • Ways to support employees impacted by other employees’ mental health concerns.
  • Managing behaviour and absences caused by mental health concerns.

The majority of people find it difficult to talk about mental health at home and work. Therefore, mental health issues do not normally manifest themselves until they become a bigger problem for an individual. Whilst there is often the old British approach of brush yourself down and get on with it, it’s not that simple for everyone, mental health conditions can be triggered by work, financial issues, genetic disposition, life events, post-traumatic stress, bereavement, breakdown in relationships, post-natal depression, anything – Everyone’s trigger is different!

Recent NHS Digital Data Report showed that:

  • There was a 14% rise in sicknotes relating to anxiety and stress between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
  • Fit notes for mental health problems were being issued for longer periods of time than any other types of illness.

Whether or not an employee’s mental health condition stems from the workplace or another source, in most cases mental health issues will impact the workplace. Businesses should think about the real implications of mental health problems on the workplace:

  • Absenteeism
  • Fall in production
  • High attrition
  • Low morale in the workplace
  • Stress in the workplace
  • Business and time costs.

The problem cannot be ignored and importantly, businesses need to start considering their plans for supporting employee mental health in the workplace. Some key considerations for employers:

  • Let’s talk – meet with the employees.
  • Identify the cause: home, financial, work, family.
  • Review employee’s workloads/environments.
  • Provide training to managers on identifying mental health concerns and supporting employees (they are not trained professionals!).
  • Review your processes for supporting employees with mental health conditions.
  • Review your sickness absence and capability processes.
  • Review your workloads and environment – is your culture right?
  • Seek guidance when problems persist!

At ViewHR, we are experienced in dealing with and supporting businesses to manage a range of mental health concerns and situations. If you have a situation you need to run past us or you are interested in running our mental health workshop in your business, then please contact us on 01425 205391 or at hr@viewhr.co.uk.