Mental health and emotional wellbeing
What it is
Emotional health and wellbeing is just as important, and closely linked to, our physical health. It affects how we think, act and relate to others. It also impacts on how we handle stress.
People with good mental health are more likely to:
- work productively
- enjoy positive interaction with colleagues
- maintain acceptable attendance
- make positive contributions to the work place
As well as the personal impact that poor emotional health and wellbeing has on the individual there are also financial costs felt by the employee and the employer. The employee may experience reduced income and the employer will experience loss of productivity and increased pressure on remaining work force.
UK figures for 2017 suggest that:
- 15 million work days were lost to mental health issues (11.54% of total sickness absences)
- 15 out of every 100 workers have existing mental health conditions
Why it matters to employers
The Government's Department of Health advises that one in four of us will experience mental ill health at some point in our lives. It is therefore important that employers, managers and employees take steps to promote positive mental health, recognise the warning signs and support anyone experiencing mental ill health.
Positively supporting emotional health and wellbeing in the workplace is recognised as being important not only to the individuals concerned but can benefit the wider workforce and organisation as a whole.
As with all aspects of health and wellbeing employers are legally required to protect and support their employees’ mental health where reasonably practicable. The Health and Safety Executive advises that if an employee’s condition is covered by the Equality Act 2010 the employer must make reasonable adjustments in order to allow the employee to carry on working. This is the same as requirements for adjustment applied to physical health conditions.
Not only is looking after your employees’ emotional health and wellbeing the right thing to do, the Stevenson Farmer Review suggests there are financial impacts to employers:
- £33 billion and £42 billion pounds per year: the estimated national cost of failing to look after and protect employees mental health
- Supporting employees’ mental health reduces costs to both the employer and the government
The mental health charity Mind carried out research which found that 56% of employers would like to do more to improve staff wellbeing but did not feel they had the right skills, training or guidance to do this. This shows that with the right resources a great many more employers can become empowered to support their workforce.
What you can do
You can take several steps to both look after your employees' mental health and emotional wellbeing. These range from putting up posters/infographics displayed in shared staff spaces to full policy changes.
These are the different levels on offer as part of our free wellbeing at work scheme:
- Bronze: Display and signposting health promotion and information
- Silver: Campaigns health development
- Gold: Training enabling and increasing access to local wellbeing services
- Platinum: Policy changes and culture changes
