MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

MODULE 7

MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

What is mental health and why does it matter?

Poor mental health is one of the biggest issues in the workplace today, causing over 70 million working days to be lost each year1. This includes everything from the most commonly experienced symptoms of stress and anxiety, right through to more complex mental health conditions, such as depression, bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

As well as having a huge impact on individual employees, poor mental health has severe repercussions for employers ? including increased staff turnover, sickness absence due to debilitating depression, burnout and exhaustion, decreased motivation and lost productivity. But while companies of all shapes and sizes increasingly understand the importance of good mental health, many simply don't feel confident handling and communicating these issues in the workplace.

This module looks at how to encourage good mental health ? by safeguarding staff wellbeing, addressing problems before they become severe, and supporting staff when issues do emerge. This is not about becoming an expert in mental health; it's about spotting the signs that something might be wrong. It will signpost the right support and resources, and offer suggestions for putting strategies in place to support good mental health. All this will help empower managers to do the same.

By the end of this module you will:

Understand why good mental health matters in the workplace

Know the role that you and your managers can play in spotting and handling mental health issues at work

Be aware of medium to long-term actions for improving mental health in the workplace and how to build awareness of them.

MODULE 7

- 2 -

Fast facts

MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

MENTAL HEALTH IN THE UK: The big picture

TODAY

9 out of 10

people with mental health problems experience stigma and discrimination

At least

1 in 4

THE GENDER DIVIDE

37%

of men are feeling worried or low. Yet their wives, partners, other relatives and friends may have no idea there's a problem

Women are between 20 and 40% more likely

than men to develop a mental

health problem

people will experience some kind of mental health problem each year

Anxiety and depression is the most common mental problem

THE COST TO UK BUSINESSES

Since 1981, the proportion of male to female suicides has increased steadily with

4 in 5 suicides being male

Half of women with perinatal mental health problems are not identified or treated

?8.1bn costing the UK an estimated

1 in 5

people take a day off

work due to stress

Less than half of employees

said they would feel able to talk openly with their line manager if they were suffering from stress

In the last 6 years the number of working days lost to stress, depression and anxiety has

24% increased by

70 million

working days are lost each year due to mental ill health, costing Britain annually ?70-100bn.

Presenteeism can double the cost.

Around ????????

?1 in every ?8 spent

on long-term physical conditions is linked to poor mental health and wellbeing

A quarter of people consider resigning due to stress

In a survey of UK adults,

56%

said they would not hire someone with depression

even if they were the best candidate for the job

AROUND THE COUNTRY

The UK has the fourth highest rate of antidepressant prescriptions in Europe at

50 m

per year

Prevalence of mental illness in Northern Ireland is 25% higher than in England

Aberystwyth and Coventry were rated as having the least happy employees

In Scotland, nearly 1 in 10 adults had two or more symptoms of depression or anxiety in 2012/3

The North East has the highest suicide rate in England while London

had the lowest

People in Liverpool were rated as the most anxious with an anxiety score of nearly 30%

Wolverhampton were lowest at around 10%

Sources: NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care | NICE Common mental health disorders | Time to Change | Mind | The King's Fund & Centre for Mental Health | 2014 CMO annual report: public mental health | Business in the Community 2014 | Daniel Freeman ? Oxford University | Office for National Statistics | NHS figures 2014 | Conference Genie | Health and Safety Executive | CentreForum Atlas of Variation | Scottish Health Survey 2013 | Centre for Mental Health 2014, London | Action Mental Health Northern Ireland | Mind & Chartered Institute of Personnel Development 2011 | London School of Economics & Political Sciences |

MODULE 7 - 3 -

MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

HOW TO PUT MENTAL HEALTH ON THE AGENDA

Good mental health should be a priority for any business, and implementing it needs to involve more than just the HR department. It's vital to get buy-in from senior leadership and make sure conversations about mental health and wellbeing happen at board level.

Make the business case

Senior leaders are understandably under increased pressure to cut costs and optimise return on investment, and may not immediately understand the business impact of poor mental health. Be prepared to make the business case and have figures to back this up ? come prepared with figures on staff turnover and morale, and bring relevant feedback from exit interviews.

Set targets

We all work better if we have clear goals that we are working towards, and mental health in the workplace is no different. Identify the key drivers for mental health, and the key indicators; figure out how to measure these and what level the company should achieve; and ensure these are an integral part of your company's performance targets.

Choose your moment

Think about the best times to start a conversation with the board and get their buy-in. There are some important dates throughout the year which can help to get the conversation started, including the Mental Health Foundation's Mental Health Awareness Week in May and World Mental Health Day in October. However, don't feel you have to wait for one of these. There are also many internal milestones that can help to put mental health on the agenda like board meetings, staff surveys, staff absence reports. Think about the times in the year when your business is busiest and staff are under the most stress, so you can raise the issue ahead of time.

MODULE 7

- 4 -

MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

Identify your board champion

It helps to enlist a board member as your mental health champion ? someone who will raise the issue at the highest levels of the business. It may be they have experienced a mental health problem themselves, or they may simply be passionate about looking after staff. They can also help to lead by example, encouraging more junior employees to think about their mental wellbeing at work.

Break the taboo

Mental Health is still a taboo subject in the workplace. 67% of employees feel scared, embarrassed or unable to talk about mental health concerns with their employer2. To break this taboo and create an open and caring culture it's important to get your board on side and take a top down approach. If they are speaking out on the issue, perhaps even drawing on their own experience, then this attitude will trickle down to managers and then staff.

Expert view

Chris O'Sullivan, Mental Health Foundation

"Mental health is something we all have. Workplaces that challenge us, support and develop our sense of purpose, and support us when things are hard can play a massive role in protecting and building our mental health. A mentally healthy workplace can be built on the back of good basic line management relationships, clear HR policy and engagement of staff in decision making. Prevention is key we need to enable everyone to flourish, those in distress to access help quickly, and those who have recovered from mental health problems to stay well and enjoy successful careers"

Take Five

Did you know?

When is your next opportunity to raise the issue of mental health with the board? Do you know when your next board meeting is? Is there a busy period at work coming up?

Good mental health is vital to business performance, because when staff feel happy and well cared for, they are more engaged, more motivated and more loyal. As many as a third of employees would consider leaving their job if they didn't feel looked after by their employer and a further 21% would be less motivated and productive3.

MODULE 7 - 5 -

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download