We look at simple measures any organisation and team within that organisation can take to reduce the risk of mental illness among employees and tackle the stigma that can still attach to this issue.
Mental illness is now the number one cause of staff absence. As a leader or line manager in your organisation, this could affect you. Firstly, you have a legal duty of care to those you employ. Secondly, staff absence leads to reduced productivity, increased pressure among teammates forced to take on additional work and, ultimately, reduced profits for your employer.
Mental health in the workplace: let’s break the stigma
Mental illness is no small matter. UK Mental health statistics compiled by Forth in 2024 make stark reading:
- More than 1 in 7 UK adults say their mental health is currently either bad, or the worst it’s ever been
- More women than men are currently struggling with poor mental health (18.5% of women vs 12.5% of men).
- Young people aged 16-24 are the most affected by mental health struggles, with nearly a quarter (23.5%) describing their mental health as either bad or the worst it’s ever been.
- In 2023, NHS England spent £217.5 million on medication to treat depression and anxiety.
- Total NHS spend on medications used to treat anxiety and depression was highest at the start of the pandemic, though, with the total spend for 2020 being £346.4 million.
- More antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication are dispensed in the North East and North Cumbria than any other part of England.
- In the UK in 2024, the term ‘How to reduce stress’ is searched on Google once every 10 minutes, on average.
So, what stops us from talking about this subject openly – and what can employers do to help deal with it?
Mental health conditions, known as the invisible illnesses, may not be as easy to recognise as physical injuries or ailments. However, employers should be treating them all in the same way.
When an employee returns to work after a period of sickness or a physical injury, say a broken arm for example, their colleagues welcome them back with compassionate words. The employee gets all kinds of support, possibly even having their working environment reassessed or adjusted. They may also be given some additional short-term flexibility in their working hours as they gradually ease themselves back into the swing of things.
On the other hand, where an employee comes back to work after a period of sickness related to mental health, usually only a minority of colleagues will ask about their well-being. Most will try to avoid them. This, despite the fact that poor mental health is now the number one reason for staff absence.
Organisations rely on having a healthy and productive workforce, so it makes no sense for employers to ignore the well-being of their staff. Employers have a duty of care under UK law to protect the health, safety and welfare of all employees. It's about creating a culture of care in organisations.
Why are people in the workplace scared and ignorant about confronting the issue? And how can we all take ownership, recognise mental health and remove the stigma that surrounds this subject in the workplace?
Let’s start by looking at some simple measures that we can all, as employers, take to support the mental well-being of our people.
Engage leadership from the top down
Educate the leaders in your organisation and get their buy-in. People in leadership positions have a gift of privilege and can touch many people's lives in a positive way if they choose to. Get them to grasp the importance of mental health and invest time and money into building well-being into the culture of the organisation. It’s a big issue in society and leaders need to respond and create healthy, happy workplaces.
Create policies and procedures for employee wellbeing
Organisations should have specific measures in place to support people with mental health issues. Review your policies and procedures. Do you have guidance notes that outline your mental health policy? Avoid seeing this as a box ticking exercise and instead create guidelines for your employees. Remember, you have a duty of care to look after the well-being of your staff.
Create a mentally healthy workplace and sign up to an employee assistance programme (EAP). This will provide employees with free, confidential access to professional consultants, expert referrals and online resources. EAPs help employees with a range of issues, from work life balance to emotional well-being and much more besides. Often, an external voice is more powerful than an internal voice.
Be a supportive line manager
Too often, people leave an organisation due to poor management, not the job itself. Good management is key to retaining staff and helping to control factors such as stress and unpredictability that can exacerbate mental health issues.
If you’re a line manager, look for ways to minimise the risk of impairing the well-being of your team members. In particular, consider any negative pressures at work.
If you oversee line-managers as part of your role, educate them and run mental health awareness sessions with experts in the field. We live such crazy lives these days that we sometimes forget to stop, look around and notice what’s happening.
Line managers are under pressure and primarily concerned about hitting targets, so can easily forget that their biggest asset is their people - this is particularly true in teams which have a tendency towards perfectionism; where managers struggle to differentiate between "my way and a different way but still right" and so tend to delegate inconsistently and insufficiently; and where team members do a large proportion of their activity individually (such as contract review).
Line managers need to spend time with their teams and have regular catch-up sessions. Simply asking "how are you?" can highlight the early signs of depression and anxiety and help managers determine what practical steps they can take to support their teams. Encourage managers to take an honest, open communication approach and to offer the right support if anyone in the team experiences mental distress.
Managers who have used behavioural profiling as part of their development work with their teams may also be able to see behavioural shifts in team members from their normal behaviours that might give an early indication of stress or pressure which the manager can respond to.
Promote well-being
Create a working environment where you support the physical and psychological health of your people. Actively promote the means devised to adopt healthier lifestyles, both within and outside of the workplace through initiatives, incentives and by role modelling positive lifestyle choices where possible. Employers who actively encourage good mental health of their workforce will reap the rewards. Employees will be more productive, staff turnover will reduce and the profits will increase.
The responsibility to create a supportive culture at work may start at the top, but everyone has a responsibility to maintain it.
Mental health is a big issue and it's not going away. The taboo around it will take time to break down. However, as Mahatma Gandhi said: "in your own small way you can change the world."
So get these simple measures in place and let’s transform how we treat colleagues with mental health conditions.
Conclusion
Mental health conditions are the number one cause of staff absence, yet still people feel stigmatised when they struggle through work with mental illness or return after a period of depression or anxiety-induced absence. As employers and line managers, we can do more to reduce this stigma and improve well-being among our colleagues.
Educating our leaders, creating policies aimed at staff well-being and signing up to an EAP will go a long way to creating a caring culture in which people can minimise the risk of a mental illness. They’ll also demonstrate a proactive approach and help reduce the stigma felt by anyone who does develop a mental illness.
Source: https://www.forthwithlife.co.uk/