Poor Mental Health at Work!

As we return in September to some form of normality, children returning to school, staff feeling more confident working from the office with longer hours; It’s imperative as an employer to safeguard the company from further disruption…you’ve had enough already!

The world has reported ill-health concerns, whereby workplace data still records 420,000 employees in Britain alone in the year of 2006, who have acknowledged stress, depression or anxiety. If health and safety data is proving an escalation becoming hazardous in the workplace, addressing this earlier has become a clear direction moving forwards. The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health identified business costs in the workplace: £8.4 billion due to sickness absence, £15.1 billion as reduced productivity and £2.4 billion staff turnover, equating to an astronomical figure of £26 billion each year as a total cost to employers of mental health problems.

Our research investigates mental health management methods and data sources from a wider environment looking at various industries and company sizes reviewing authors methodology, rationale and impact to gain further understanding of the implications surrounding society. These include early identification and prevention practices which should enable employers to save 30 percent or more, at least £8 billion a year, as The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health illustrates. Taking action through effective communication, training and support will have a far better result avoiding the elephant in the room phrase but demonstrating the need to be transparent because mental health cannot be neglected anymore.

By reviewing current literature around mental health methods, we have identified 3 options to help companies and their people:

1. Leadership/management and employee relationships
2. Having a support system for employees
3. Work-life balance and flexible working

In The CIPD’s 2016 Employee Outlook: Focus on mental health at work survey, 2016 found that poor mental health was the most common cause of long-term sickness absence in UK workplaces and that stress-related absence had increased in nearly two-fifths of organisations. Early interventions and preventative precautions are key to retain staff, productivity, and for the success of the company’s growth.