It’s time to prioritise mental health in the workplace

When we think of workplace health and safety we’re likely to first consider points such as the following: Do we have the right equipment for people to do their job safely? Do we have trained first aiders? Do we have adequate insurance cover?

Photograph: iStock/gawrav

Ensuring people’s physical health and safety is paramount, of course, but equally employers should be ensuring that employee mental health and wellbeing is a priority. Workplaces should strive to create an environment where good staff mental health is valued as a core asset to the organisation. This includes a commitment to policies and practices that protect and improve mental health for everyone, while also supporting people who experience mental health problems.

World Mental Health Day is 10 October, and the theme is ‘prioritising mental health in the workplace’. So, now is a great time to review and reflect on your current practice and what you can do to improve. 

It is vital to create a workplace environment that encourages talking about mental health, particularly when people are struggling. For example, we know that many people are not comfortable disclosing that they need time off work for their mental health and may instead say they have a headache or some other physical injury or illness. We need a culture shift to address this. That includes normalising staff taking days off for mental health reasons in the same way they would for physical health ailments. 

Workplaces and employers can help reduce the stigma of poor mental health by having regular wellbeing check-ins with staff. Line managers should be aware of the signs of common mental health issues like anxiety, stress, depression and burnout, and be ready to discuss this sensitively with team members and offer the right support. They should also lead by example and, wherever possible, be open when they are experiencing poor mental health themselves, taking time off if needed.

It’s important that people understand that if you are struggling with your mental health, you are legally entitled to take time off in the same way as you would if you were suffering from a physical illness. (Similarly, if you are going to be absent for longer than one week you will require a doctor’s note.)

Alexa Knight is director of England at the Mental Health Foundation. Photograph: Mental Health Foundation

As with all health, prevention is better than cure when it comes to mental wellbeing. Rest is vital for good mental health so, for workplaces, it’s far better for an employee to take a day off to reset and recharge than continue to push themselves to the point where they become ill and require a longer recuperation. Research we published with the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2022 found that poor mental health costs the UK economy £118 billion annually; the bulk of these costs are linked to reduced productivity with people unable to work or working less due to mental ill health.

Among the recommendations from that report was for workplaces to provide brief psychological support for those who need it and take steps to improve workplace culture to promote and protect mental health. People need to feel safe to talk about their mental health at work and know that help and compassion will be provided whenever needed.

At the Mental Health Foundation, in addition to annual leave and public holidays, all staff are entitled to three wellbeing days throughout the year. Staff are encouraged to take all of their time off, particularly after busy periods of intense work, such as our Mental Health Awareness Week when the team needs to decompress before moving on to the next big project.

We are also piloting a 32-hour work week (reduced from 35 hours). The idea is that staff spend this extra free time doing something that is good for their mental health – getting out in nature, spending time with friends and family, doing a hobby.

While wellbeing days and shorter working weeks may not be available to all workplaces, employers should always advocate for good work/life balance. This is even more important in our ‘always on’ culture where work emails and messages can be sent or answered at any time of the day or night, reducing our capacity to get a proper break. Managers should help set boundaries to ensure that staff don’t feel pressured to work longer hours or take on more than is reasonable on a regular basis.

Employer checklist for creating mentally healthy workplaces

From Mental Health Foundation’s Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace guide, available to download at: mentalhealth.org.uk/tips-for-work

Value mental health and wellbeing as core assets of your organisation

• Commit to developing an approach to mental health at work that protects and improves mental health for everyone, while supporting those people who experience distress.
• Designate board champions, and ensure senior leaders and middle managers are responsible for and confident implementing mental health programmes.
• Commit to reviewing the way you do business to ensure your everyday working culture is as mentally healthy as possible. Make evidence-based mental health promotion tools like mindfulness and exercise available to all staff.
• Run regular staff surveys and other research to build data about staff mental health, using findings to plan and deliver action and inform workplace policies. Recognise and celebrate the impact of existing employee benefits and corporate social responsibility activities on the mental health and wellbeing of staff.

Photograph: iStock/RainStar

Support national and local anti-stigma initiatives such as ‘Time to Change’, ‘Time to Change Cymru’, ‘See Me’ and Mental Health Awareness Week which is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation in May every year

• Support the development of compassionate and effective line management relationships.
• Provide opportunities for managers to attend relevant training to support staff living with mental health problems and the wellbeing of all staff more widely.
• Provide proactive support for staff line-managing people with mental health problems, including access to HR and, where necessary, occupational health services.
• Recognise that line managers who have personal lived experience of mental health problems are a unique asset to a company.

Address discrimination

• Ensure that discrimination on the grounds of mental health status is seen to be as unacceptable as discrimination in relation to other protected characteristics such as race, gender or sexual orientation.
• Encourage staff to report any discrimination or harassment they face and to blow the whistle on discrimination they witness.

Value the diversity and transferable skills that lived experience of mental health problems bring and support disclosure

• Include mental health in diversity and inclusion strategies, and recognise the mental health component of wider equality initiatives.
• Ensure your business creates opportunities to link with employability providers to enable people with mental health problems to join your workforce.
• Give people positive reasons to disclose by establishing a culture that values authenticity and openness – this should be led from the top of the organisation.
• Explore setting up peer support and mentoring programmes for staff with lived experience of mental health problems.

How to get involved in World Mental Health Day

Tea & Talk

You can help to raise both awareness and vital funds for mental health by organising a Tea & Talk at your workplace this World Mental Health Day. Get the conversations going over a cuppa. There are lots of ideas and conversation starter activities on the Mental Health Foundation website.

The money you raise will make a big difference and enable us to keep putting prevention at the heart of what we do, remain at the forefront of research, be a voice for change, run life-changing programmes and equip people across the UK with information and tools to manage their mental health successfully. 

See: mentalhealth.org.uk/tea-talk

#PinItForMentalHealth

The green ribbon is the international symbol of mental health awareness. Wear a green ribbon to show colleagues, loved ones or simply those you walk past that you care about their mental health. It can also be worn in memory of a loved one.

Get your green ribbon at: mentalhealth.org.uk/green-ribbon and #PinItForMentalHealth

Alexa Knight is director of England at the Mental Health Foundation.

For more information on World Mental Health Day visit:

mentalhealth.org.uk/wmhd

To download our free guide, Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace, go to:

mentalhealth.org.uk/tips-for-work