By Thom Dennis, CEO at Serenity in Leadership
World Mental Health Day (10th of October) is nearly upon us and after unprecedented global change and trauma, where many of us became ill, developed long term chronic symptoms, lost loved ones, lost jobs, weren’t able to socialise, had to home educate our children, developed an increasingly poor work/ life balance, weren’t able to go on holiday, were furloughed, were pinged and isolated, mental health has never been more important. Today many employees are still facing worries about redundancy, face a lack of opportunities or suffer from bullying, harassment, or workplace stress.
Whilst the stigma of mental health is slightly improved from a decade ago, and the Olympics may have been a watershed moment for mental health in sport, mental health is the number one reason cited for sick days in the UK and is on the rise. Before the pandemic even took its stranglehold in the UK, it was estimated by Deloitte in January 2020 that mental health issues cost UK employers up to £45 billion a year. Today the additional cost of the pandemic on mental health is not yet fully known or quantified but 18-24 year olds, the unemployed, single parents and those with long-term disability or pre-existing mental health problems are more likely to be suffering from new mental health issues.
Recent months have also seen a spike in workplace burnout, with research suggesting that symptoms of burnout increased by 24% in UK employees in 2020. Many employees are suffering from lack of sleep and then chronic daytime fatigue, feel depleted, irritable, resentful, anxious or depressed, have trouble focusing, and have blurred lines between work and home life. Health is not just physical. Mental health affects every aspect of someone’s life, including their work, and if that isn’t enough to make us do something, the hidden costs of an unhealthy working environment come to enormous sums that no business can afford to ignore.
Every business can support struggling employees, and better still, can proactively ensure that being at work is not part of the problem, particularly as things are still likely to be more difficult than usual this winter in the health arena. Here’s what you can do.
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