Can your people talk to you?

Business Insights
22/11/2017

We all like to think of ourselves as good employers who foster an inclusive workplace culture, and care about our employees.


Many bosses will say, “My door is always open!” However many employees would have difficulty in discussing any sort of mental health issue with their boss despite a renewed focus on mental health in the workplace.


Many employees report feeling stressed while at work yet feel that if they complain they may be judged as weak or inadequate. Worse, they worry then that they may then be overlooked for any promotions, not given the opportunity to take up extra training opportunities, or even “eased out” of the job altogether.


New research has found that nearly two thirds (60.2%) of employees would feel embarrassed about disclosing information on the state of their mental health with their employer. What’s more, 60.8% feel they cannot talk about it with their boss.


So ask yourself whether you do make time to discuss with your employees how they are feeling about the job, offer support, further training if required and take the opportunity to give them positive feedback?


Such positive interaction has been shown to very productive.


A recent report from CV Library, explored the views of 1,200 UK workers and found that a third of professionals (31.7%) feel that their workplace is not supportive of mental health, with a further 77.8% believing that the majority of workplaces in the UK are unsupportive.


Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library commented onthe findings, saying,

“Mental health in the workplace continues to be a hot topic, and this is because it is clearly not being dealt with effectively. We are a nation that is under more pressure than ever before and it’s therefore unsurprising that people will be feeling the effects whilst at work.

“Businesses should prioritise creating a culture where openness and honesty are encouraged. In turn, this will ensure that workers feel comfortable confiding in their boss, making coming to work that little bit less stressful.”


With 70.7% of workers admitting that their mental health issues impact their working life, it’s clear that employers need to do more to help make the working day easier for people. When asked what measures they thought employers should introduce to help combat mental health in the workplace, respondents cited the following:


1. Promote a healthy work/life balance (38.6%)

2. Create an environment where mental health is not stigmatised (15%)

3. Refer employees to a counselling service (13.7%)

4. Talk more openly about mental health (11.9%)

5. Allow employees to take time out when they need to (8.6%)


In addition, 83.6% said that they think employers should offer ‘mental health days’, in which employees are encouraged to take time out to look after their health, with a further 78% stating that they would be more likely to work for a company that offered ‘mental health days’.


While losing out on staff temporarily may ring alarm bells for employers, it can actually help in the long run. Mental health should be dealt with in the same way as any other illness and it’s important to offer your employees time off should they need it. There are plenty of avenues to go down, and it’s imperative that you get it right. Otherwise, you could risk losing your employees altogether.


Findings from the mental health charity, Mind, support the conclusions from the research, finding that approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year.


Further research explored the views of UK workers around depression and anxiety in the workplace, and found that 14.1% of respondent admitted to suffering
with these problems, increasing to 26.9% amongst under 18s.

What’s more, 89% of individuals say that this affects their working life. And while it seems that more and more people are being affected, there are ongoing concerns that employers are not doing enough to support members of staff who are suffering. Many aren’t making the process of coming to work that little bit easier.


In fact, one third (31.7%) of workers do not feel their workplace is supportive of mental health, with three quarters (77.8%) also believing that organisations across the UK are nowhere near as supportive as they should be.