Employers need to keep workers’ mental health in mind
Mental health is one of the biggest causes of workplace absence in the UK and in today’s current economic climate it is more important than ever for employers to support their staff.
These are some of the findings of a government ‘think tank’, the Foresight Group, which is calling on UK businesses to have a major rethink of their attitude towards their employees’ mental health*.
The group has produced a report** documenting the challenges facing the UK over the next 20 years and the implications for mental wellbeing.
The report calls for businesses to be more aware of their employees’ mental health and to offer a higher level of support, greater understanding and more appropriate policies to deal with potential problems.
Data suggests that 420,000 employees in Britain in 2006 believed they were experiencing depression, anxiety or stress at work at levels that were making them ill.
Figures estimate the cost of mental health problems to the UK economy to be £5 billion per year, and up to 60 per cent of absences from work are stress-related***.
Professor Cary Cooper, one of the authors of the Foresight Group report, said that employees in the UK already work longer hours than in other European countries and workers might feel under even more pressure to “put in the hours” given the unstable economic climate.
He said that a work-life balance is essential for good mental health. New forms of flexible working could help employees meet these conflicting demands and still be financially viable and even beneficial for businesses by increasing workers' productivity.
Andy Bell, of the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, said, "Mental distress is a normal part of human life. One person in six experiences depression or anxiety each year.
"The cost of ignoring mental distress at work is £1,000 for every employee in every UK business. "Yet much of the cost can be saved by responding positively to mental distress at work and by taking simple, inexpensive measures such as allowing people to work flexibly when they are unwell and keeping in touch to offer help and encouragement when people are off sick."
A Westfield Health survey, which polled 510 adults, found that 73 per cent of respondents have suffered from stress at some point in their lives.
The research also indicated that 39 per cent of people had taken time off work due to their stress levels, while 67 per cent were not offered any stress support services by their employer.
Employers providing an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) or some other form of confidential advice service are unlikely to be in breach of their duty of care. An EAP can help employers to reduce their risk of stress-related litigation.
Westfield’s health cash plans offer a 24-hour counselling and advice line, which enables policyholders to speak to a counsellor, lawyer or medical advisor at any time in complete confidence.
Some of Westfield’s employer-paid plans also offer up to six face-to-face counselling sessions, which allow policyholders to talk through issues in person with a trained counsellor.
References:
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7680788.stm
** Foresight Group report ‘Mental Capital and Wellbeing’
http://www.foresight.gov.uk/OurWork/ActiveProjects/Mental%20Capital/Welcome.asp
*** ‘Work-related stress: a guide’– The Confederation of British Industry
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