When We Rethink Mental Health at Work, Everyone Benefits

Many of us feel that our mental health has been put through the proverbial wringer over the last year. Between COVID-19, ongoing lockdowns, economic insecurity, and social isolation, it’s been a uniquely challenging time. 

According to a LinkedIn and the Mental Health Foundation report, UK workers are working an average of 28 extra hours of monthly overtime since the beginning of lockdown, and 56% report feeling more anxious or stressed since they started working from home. 

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that is still reticent when it comes to discussing mental health, and nowhere is this more true than in the workplace. But the last year has proven just how much we need to change the narrative around mental health. It has also shown that when companies invest in their people’s mental health, they stand to gain as much as their employees do. 

As businesses and bosses realise that old strategies are no longer adequate, some are turning to creative, forward-thinking, and radical solutions to support their employees. I set out to learn what works, what doesn’t, and how we can collectively improve our approach to mental health at work. 

Alison Pay is the Managing Director of Mental Health at Work, a subsidiary of the Mental Health Foundation. Alison says that companies need to better support employees with their mental health long before they reach a crisis point. 

“Some employers have the most amazing wellbeing programmes for their employees, but take-up is very low,” she says. “That take-up often happens when there is already an issue, and HR signposts someone to a service. But if we can get people engaging with wellbeing programmes earlier, it needn’t go to HR, and the person might not even need time off work.” 

I asked her how employers can encourage that earlier take-up. “Get to know your people!” she says. “That means that when you notice a change, you can start a conversation and ask how they are. Then make space and be kind enough to really listen in a non-judgemental way.” 

“If someone is drowning in emails, they won’t have time to go to a workplace meditation session”

Mel Riley, a Senior Accredited Psychotherapist, agrees and points out that workload is a big part of the equation. “If someone is drowning in emails, they won’t have time to go to a workplace meditation session!” she says. 

So how can companies encourage take-up? Apart from ensuring workloads are reasonable and balanced, leading by example is crucial. Jimmy Williams is the CEO of Urban Jungle Insurance and has provided facilities such as care packages, yoga, wellness sessions with coaches, and regular check-ins for his young, London-based team. He attributes the high take-up to his willingness to talk about his own struggles and put his time and energy behind the initiatives. “This shows people that it’s real and not just lip-service,” he says. 

Did it work? Jimmy says that productivity remains very high despite the challenges of remote working and that the company has experienced close to zero employee churn over the last year. 

“My boss specifically checked every week to make sure younger reporters weren’t facing burnout”

Vishal, a journalist, told me how his employer made space for the team to prioritise their mental health by providing unlimited access to therapy and counselling online. “My boss specifically checked every week to make sure younger reporters weren’t facing burnout or under unwanted duress while reporting stories,” he says. 

Due to mental health stigma, many people are reluctant to talk about their struggles, even in a seemingly supportive workplace. It is clear that more needs to be done to normalise these conversations, and some companies are taking proactive steps to lead the way. 

“I’ve really tried to talk about mental health and be honest about my own struggles to encourage that openness,” Jimmy says. 

I spoke to Alice Greedus, the PR Manager of Happiful, a magazine focusing on mental health and wellbeing and is committed to practising what they preach. Alice explained that talking openly about mental health is part of everyday life at Happiful. Most of the team are mental health first aid trained. This means there is always someone to talk to, even if the employee who is struggling doesn’t want to go to their manager. 

Jackie Shears is a Mental Health First Aid Instructor and runs Healthy Minds, Healthy Business, an organisation that provides training to help businesses prioritise mental wellbeing through line managers. Jackie believes that creating mentally healthy workplaces requires much more than just a grab-bag of disparate programmes.  

“free fruit and yoga don’t change the mental health culture of an organisation”

“Free fruit and yoga don’t change the mental health culture of an organisation!” she says. “Individuals are often too busy to notice, so line managers need to be aware of what drives poor mental health at work, set the examples, drive the right behaviours, and know what to look for in their teams. Then you get a sea change in awareness and uptake of mentally healthy practices.”

Jackie recently provided training for line managers at FCMS/PDS, a healthcare organisation in the north of England. I spoke to Sarah Hart, the Director of People and Wellbeing, to learn about its impact on the company. 

“We’re really well being-focused,” she says of the company. “We care deeply because we’re dealing with real people, not robots.” FCMS/PDS prioritises equipping line managers with the tools they need to support their teams, opening conversations and breaking down barriers.”

Sarah emphasised that undertaking mental health training for their management team was focused on providing genuine value, not a box-ticking exercise. So far, she says, feedback has been excellent, and the team is already seeing a positive change in how they can talk about wellbeing. FCMS/PDS recognises that its people are critical to continuing its mission and that looking after those people helps ensure the company’s future. 

Something that often concerns employers is that mental health provisions can be expensive. Happiful, for example, provides Vitality health insurance and a yearly budget for each employee to spend on therapy. Urban Jungle provided funding for home office equipment at the beginning of lockdown. None of this comes cheap. 

Alison explained that wellness initiatives and training are among the first things organisations cull when they need to cut costs. “But mental health is a basic people investment!” she says. “It is fundamental, not discretionary.” 

“if you want people to be at their best, they need to be psychologically safe”

Cate Murden, the founder of PUSH wellbeing and performance company, sums it up: “if you want people to be at their best, they need to be psychologically safe.” 

For workplaces looking to be productive and efficient, as well as happy and healthy, scrimping on wellbeing is a false economy. According to a January 2020 study by Deloitte, poor mental health costs UK employers £42bn - £45bn annually in a combination of absences, presenteeism costs, and turnover. 

According to the same Deloitte study, the average annual cost of poor mental health amounts to 5.8% of the average salary across all age groups. The study also showed that employers who invest in employee mental health enjoy an average £5 return for every £1 spent. “If you want to maximise happiness, engagement, productivity, and retention, mental health is a huge part of that,” Alison says. Deloitte’s data proves just how true this is. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown many business owners and bosses that flexible working arrangements are not only possible but can even be desirable. Mel suggested that employers could vastly improve wellbeing at work by allowing people to flex their hours, start work later, and sometimes take an extended lunch break. 

Joel Sanders of Treepoints, a startup dedicated to helping people reduce their carbon footprint, told me that his team has adopted a flexible working model and utilised various digital solutions to stay connected. As a result, he described his team as "more creative and open to new ideas." 

Samantha, who works for a family-owned cleaning business, recalls going back to work after the first lockdown. “I was extremely anxious because I had to catch public transport. My boss texted to say I could take my time and not to worry if I was late, as long as I was okay.” She says that this seemingly small gesture made her feel valued and supported. 

In 2019, Happiful took flexibility a step further and trialled a four-day workweek. The company pioneered a scientific study, controlling for numerous variables and using a three months on, three months off system to test employees’ stress levels. COVID-19 has delayed the full results, but preliminary results were promising. Alice said that flexibility and meeting people ‘where they are’ has led to happy, invested employees, awards for customer service, and no redundancies during the pandemic. 

There is no doubt that the pandemic has already changed workplace attitudes to mental health and will continue to do so as we move back towards normality. A year of working from home has given colleagues a window into one another’s homes and out-of-work lives, paradoxically allowing some of us to get to know our coworkers better despite being physically separated. Might we be able to use this as an opportunity to build stronger relationships and provide better mutual support? Alison believes so. “When we raise the importance of knowing our colleagues, we can notice changes,” she says. 

As we start coming out of lockdown, people will naturally be dealing with different anxiety levels around commuting and returning to the physical office. We need to talk about those struggles openly and allow the flexibility that enables people to do their jobs while staying mentally healthy. 

It is clear that when we prioritise mental health at work in an honest and meaningful way, everyone—employees and companies alike—benefit.

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