Workplace mental ill-health costs employers around £26 billion per year

9th October 2019

Workplace mental ill-health costs employers around £26 billion per year

Mental health, like physical health, can fluctuate but everyone’s experience of mental health is different and unique to them. One in four of us will suffer from poor mental health during our lifetime. In the workplace, employers are recognising the need to take more proactive steps to invest in addressing and improving mental health.

It is worthwhile looking at some of the headline statistics on mental health in the workplace, to understand why taking a proactive approach is so important:

  • 17% of workers suffer from anxiety, depression and unmanageable stress each year.
  • 74% of people who have suffered with a mental health problem for more than a year are out of work.
  • 49% of workers would not be comfortable talking about their mental health at work.
  • Workplace mental ill-health costs employers around £26 billion per year.
  • In 2015, 18 million days were lost to mental ill-health sickness absence.

Employers are obliged to ensure that working conditions are safe – and that includes for mental health. Many mental health conditions may also be classed as disabilities for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, which requires employers to take proactive steps to make reasonable adjustments. Management of long term sickness cases where there is an underlying mental health condition requires careful and sensitive handling, to ensure that appropriate adjustments are made and support (both from occupational health and management) is given throughout.

But prevention is better than cure. What steps can you take to promote mental well-being? There is so much that employers can do to promote and support mental health of its workers. As examples:

  • If you haven’t already done so, you could introduce a dedicated counselling service or helpline for mental health issues;
  • Training on mental health issues including mental health first aid is an important first step in raising awareness and understanding within your organisation;
  • Ensure in your internal communications that you focus on using positive language;
  • Enable those needing help to feel reassured that they can seek help without any stigma being attached to them – fostering a culture of support and openness is critical, so that conversations around mental health become the norm;
  • Make full use of the advice, resources and training from Suffolk Mind;
  • Adopt a mental health toolkit (for example, like the one provided by Public Health England);
  • Adopt a programme on physical activity – where there is a clear and positive link between the benefits of exercise and improved mental health;
  • Use resources which are available for mental health support, including Occupational Health;
  • Participate in initiatives such as Time to Change; and
  • reviewing your absence policies and keeping-in-touch arrangements – and if you haven’t done so already, implement a policy that outlines how you support workers who may be suffering with poor mental health and signpost what resources are available.

If you don’t have policies and procedures in place for dealing with ill health and absence, would like to ensure that your existing ones are up to date, you have an issue in the workplace you need assistance with, or perhaps you’re an employee who is experiencing difficulties at work, email [email protected] for more information about how we can help.

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