A healthy workplace - what you need to know about mental health

Employees - core of the business

Employees are the backbone of any successful business. Seems simple doesn’t it? With good staff comes good work, and from good work comes a quality product & service for your customer.

Surely then, you just need to recruit the employee with the right skillset and happy days! Job done!

Except, it’s not that simple, is it? Everyone has their good days and everyone has their bad days, and this can impact effectiveness at work. You can have an employee with the perfect skillset, but there are a number of elements that can prevent them from working to full capacity. Poor mental health is often the elephant in the room, so to speak, and like an elephant it can sometimes feel big and grey.

Mental health - an inescapable truth

Poor mental health has been described as a 'slow-growing epidemic', and the number of people dealing with mental health issues has, over the last decade, increased by 10%. ⁱ It’s also become much more prominent in the public eye. From Premier League footballers to musicians and movie stars, more and more famous people have openly discussed their struggles with mental health, in a refreshing trend that is raising awareness and opening discussion about mental health. A high profile example of this is the EFL (English Football League) partnering with the charity Mind. In every EFL match this season, the iconic Mind logo will be featured on the names on every player’s shirt.

Poor mental health affects every business

According to the mental health charity Mind, half of all employees are affected by poor mental health. Worse still, only half of these had spoken to their employer about it. Around 300,000 people are estimated to lose their job each year due to a mental health issue. ⁱⁱ

With so many people struggling with poor mental health, it’s not all too surprising that mental ill health is the cause of a quarter of all workplace absences. The cost of this is an estimated £26 million per year.

No wonder last year’s UK Workplace Wellbeing Study highlighted mental health as the second largest challenge employers will face over the next 5 years. Mental health can affect productivity, reputation, customer service and staff turnover, so it’s vital that employers start to acknowledge the issue, and work towards supporting their employees.

Workplace wellbeing – how to promote good mental health in your business

There are so many things that companies can do to support their employees and promote good mental health, here are a few simple examples:

Promote work/life balance

We’ve all done it; coming in early or staying late. Whether it’s making sure a product launches on time by logging on at home, or putting in the extra hours for your customer, sometimes you just find yourself switched on to work when you should be switched off. With mobile phones it’s all too easy to send one more email or make one more call. Be mindful of the consequences of praising ‘always-on’ behaviour, it can actually hurt your business in the long run.

Productivity levels will likely drop without a healthy work/life balance, and it increases the risk that employees will burn out. Ensure that employees are taking enough holidays where they can completely remove themselves from their work environment. Set the precedent that they’re not expected to answer every call or email 24/7.

Openly discuss mental health in the workplace

This is perhaps the biggest one for me. If you can create an environment where employees feel comfortable talking about issues such as depression, anxiety, stress or other mental health issues, you will have broken one of the biggest barriers to achieving positive mental health.

One way to do this is to give your management teams the education around indicators of mental health issues and training to approach their team in the correct manner. It’s incredible what a simple, understanding conversation between an employee and their manager can do to support someone and encourage them to get the help they need. Simply asking, “How are you?” is a great place to start.

Make wellness a priority

A healthy body goes a hell of a long way to creating a healthy mind. Healthy eating and exercise are simple and effective ways of building and maintaining good mental health.

As an employer, encourage these habits to help your workforce develop them. Wellness of your staff should be a top priority, so whether it’s rewarding employees who engage in fitness programmes, starting a ride to work scheme or partnering with your local gym for a staff discount, promoting physical health & wellbeing supports good mental health.

Help them get help

Your employees must know you’ll support any efforts to take care of their mental health in the same way you’d support them taking care of their body. Employees wouldn’t hesitate to take time off if they’d broken a bone but many would hesitate to take time out to address any mental health issues.

Allowing employees to take mental health days, working out a flexible schedule to ensure they can attend appointments, whatever is needed - make it crystal clear that you support them in taking care of their mind too.

Leaders – reducing the stigma

As with most things in business, leading from the top is a necessity. Promoting work/life balance, equipping managers & employees to have open & honest conversations, promoting overall wellness and helping employees get the help they need are all fantastic ways to promote good mental health and reduce the stigma. Be sure that any mental health initiative you introduce is actively supported by your senior team.

Mental health at Ikano Bank

As a co-worker at Ikano Bank, I’m proud to say that mental health is a huge part of our day to day agenda. Not only do we have plenty of opportunities that support our overall wellness, such as the aforementioned cycle to work scheme and free entry into the Ikano Bank Robin Hood Marathon events amongst others, we also have an open culture to discuss and support mental health.

This year, our managers have taken part in workshops to help them recognise the signs of stress and importantly what to do if one of their team is showing signs of distress. All co-workers have had mini sessions opening the door to conversations about mental health enabling us to look after each other better. We’ve always been good at promoting physical health and I’m excited to see we’re making equal strides to promote good mental health. A group of mental health first aiders have been appointed, making it even easier to talk to someone and get help if you need it.

Find out more about mental health in the workplace:

www.mind.org.uk

www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk

Mental health toolkit for employers

Get in touch

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1. Allen, K. (2018, July). Celebrities talking about Depression. Retrieved from https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/gallery/celebrities-talking-about-depression-anxiety-and-mental-health.
2. Bulman, M. (2017, Oct). More than 300,000 UK workers laid off each year due to long-term mental health problems, finds report. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-workers-mental-health-problems-employee-welfare-support-stevonson-farmer-review-prime-minister-a8019626.html
3. Business in the Community (2016). Mental Health toolkit for employers. London