When it comes to helping your teams with their mental health and their wellbeing, a quick fix won’t cut it.
We know what you’re thinking:
1. Is this really relevant to me?
2. Do I need to be dealing with this right now?
In a word, yes.
When it comes to mental health and wellbeing at work, the only thing that’s crazy is the scale of the problem.
At least 15.4 million days were taken off for mental health problems including anxiety, depression and stress in 2018. That’s 57% of all sick days from work. And if we’re talking £££ that’s an annual cost in excess of £33 billion to employers.
If people and money are relevant to your business right now, then so is mental health and wellbeing. Here are four reasons why:
We ALL have mental health.
1 in 4 adults in England are experiencing a diagnosed mental health issue at any time, but don’t let that throw you. We ALL have mental health - that’s right, 1 in 1 of us, so businesses need to make sure they prioritise good mental health as well as supporting mental illness.
Fear of stigma is real.
95% of employees calling in sick with stress give a different reason. The fear of being truthful needs to change. Companies need to cultivate an environment where people feel they can talk about their mental health honestly and have access to easy-to-understand information - in the same way as with physical health - without the worry of shame.
Talent is being lost.
The government’s 'Thriving at Work' report indicated that up to 300,000 people with poor mental health lose their jobs every year with opportunities missed to support, or even help prevent, issues that ultimately lead to talented people leaving. Box-ticking ‘quick-fixes’ just won’t cut it and successful mental health and wellbeing support should be rooted in what’s culturally right for a business and its people to give it the best chance of success.
The numbers add up.
Reports show that for every £1 spent on mental health interventions the return can be as much as £9. Investing in championing good mental health for all, as opposed to simply managing issues as they arise, can help counter the challenge of absenteeism, presenteeism and additional resourcing.