Health Insurance is calling on its readers to help employers fulfil the aims of a new charity campaign dedicated to addressing mental health in the workplace.
The recession has taken a heavy toll on the psychological wellbeing of British employees, according to research carried out by Mind to underpin its Taking care of business campaign. One in five workers claim to have developed depression as a direct result of workplace pressure and one in ten have started taking antidepressants. Just over a third (38%) of people think their employer is doing enough to support staff.
The charity is now urging businesses to make it a corporate priority to address mental health and Health Insurance has secured the support of eight providers operating in the corporate health sector who are practising what they preach by providing their staff with support.
Health Insurance is now urging readers to help Mind fulfil its aims by discussing the campaign with corporate clients and getting them to join leading businesses including BT in signing up online at www.mind.org.uk/employment#signup. We believe that our readership is ideally placed to broach the topic of mental wellbeing with employers and this month have asked providers to supply us with their top tips on the tools you can help them put in place.
Over the coming months we will be shining a light on your success stories in helping to prevent and address mental ill-health in the workplaces across the UK. Please get in touch at news@hi-mag.com to tell us how you’re helping companies address an issue estimated to cost UK plc £26bn a year.
“There is quite a big issue around mental health and not understanding it so a fear of making situation worse,” said Vicki Nash, head of policy and campaigns at Mind. “You don’t need to have all answers but you need to be able to listen and talk to people that are experiencing distress and work with them to find best way to manage it. It’s dispelling the myth and saying to organisations that there are people there to help them. Thousands of businesses are dealing with these issues on a daily basis. The culture of denial is the biggest problem for employers. If you tackle that you are well on way to increasing productivity and having a mentally healthier workplace.”
Nash described employee assistance programmes (EAPs) as a tool providing “really vital support” for people but stressed that it was important to identify the root cause of mental ill-health.
“It’s important that managers understand what those programmes are there to do,” she said. “Often employees are handed a leaflet but to understand what they offer they onus comes back to the line manager to understand what will help that individual person best. Is it going to be schemes that EAP offers like telephone counselling or more about sitting down and looking at work priorities?”
DID YOU KNOW?
Research conducted by EAP provider PPP Worldwide found that 33% of employees were absent from work at the time they had their first counselling session, with only 0.6% planning to return to work. By the last session the amount of people not at work had fallen to 13% with 8% of these saying they were planning to return to work.
PROVIDERS SUPPORTING THE MIND CAMPAIGN
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AXA PPP healthcare
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Aviva UK Health
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BHSF
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Canada Life
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CIGNA HealthCare
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Legal & General
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Simplyhealth
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Westfield Health
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Unum
TOOLS YOU CAN PUT IN PLACE TO HELP EMPLOYERS
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Access to occupational health, including counselling
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Sickness absence management programmes
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Access to vocational rehabilitation services via group income protection
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Stress management training for line managers
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Employee assistance programmes with referral on to face to face counselling
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Psychiatric cover on private medical insurance policies
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A mental health policy
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Cash plans can include a counselling benefit
MIND’S OBJECTIVES
1. Businesses to make it a corporate priority to address mental health in their workplaces.
2. Employers to recognise that all of their staff are vulnerable to developing mental health problems and need to be well supported
3. An end to mental health stigma at work. Employers and employees should stop seeing mental health problems as a sign of weakness and start finding solutions for the good of our workforce and businesses.
4. Employers to encourage a culture where employees can discuss stress and mental distress openly without fear of the consequences
5. Businesses to introduce workplace mental health policies that promote wellbeing for all staff, tackle work-related mental health problems and support staff who are experiencing mental distress