Although about a quarter of employees have experienced mental health problems while in employment, only just over a third believe that their employer is supportive of such issues.
An online poll of 2,068 UK workers undertaken by YouGov on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development revealed that a worrying one in five felt that their organisation failed to support people suffering from mental health problems well.
Moreover, only 25% of respondents indicated that their employer encouraged staff to talk openly about mental health matters, while 31% were unaware of what support was available, which implied inadequate communication about such issues.
Ben Willmott, the CIPD’s head of public policy, said: “Managing mental health at work is central to good business performance. Stress is the number one cause of long-term sickness absence, but it is not just time lost to absence which impacts on the bottom line.”
Although the majority of workers with poor mental health continued to attend work, their ability to concentrate, make good decisions and provide effective customer service was often impaired. As a result, presenteeism cost the UK economy an estimated £15.1 billion per year in reduced productivity, while mental health-related sickness absence cost business £8.4 billion, he added.
Complex situation
As to who were most likely to report experiencing mental health problems while in employment, women (31%) tended to be more open than men (22%). The same applied to people working in the voluntary sector (39%) and public sector (37%) who, in general terms, were more comfortable talking about their situation than private sector colleagues (23%).
Nearly two thirds of workers with poor mental health attributed their scenario to a combination of problems inside and outside work, meanwhile, with only 15% putting it down to work alone and 20% blaming their problems purely on personal matters.
“Mental ill health is usually caused by a complex interaction between pressures at work and at home, so increasing worries about debt, home repossession and job insecurity, as the economy continues to remain depressed, may well lead to a surge in mental ill health,” Willmott said.
This meant that managers had a key role to play in acting as the “eyes and ears of organisations” in order to pick up the early warning signs and intervene if employees were struggling.
To help the process, the CIPD has got together with mental health charity Mind to produce a guide entitled ‘Managing and supporting mental health at work: disclosure tools for managers’.
Mind’s chief executive Paul Farmer said: “Supporting staff through a difficult period does not have to cost the earth and can have huge benefits for any organisation. This guide provides advice for managers to help them foster an environment where staff can feel comfortable to disclose a mental health problem, and simple information to support their employees through any period of mental ill health to help their recovery.”
