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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Expert comment - Mental health in the UK workplace, is enough being done?

Lisa Gillespie, Director of HR Services at Moorepay

“Nearly 12.5 million working days lost to work-related stress, anxiety and depression in the last two years alone paints a disturbing picture of mental health challenges in the workplace.

But the actual figures could be much higher. Our research reveals that 19% of UK employees avoid taking time off for stress or other mental health-related reasons as they do not want their company to know they were suffering.

And many people, more than 1 in 4 (27%), feel that they are not properly supported by their companies when it comes to mental health issues.

These worrying statistics make one thing really clear – there is still not enough being done to address mental health issues in the UK. 

Given that mental health issues are often very difficult to identify in the workplace, dealing with them in the same way as an obvious physical ailment can help firms detect problems early on and provide the necessary support.

Robust policies and wellness initiatives must be in place to ensure employees feel well-supported and comfortable enough to discuss health issues – be it mental or otherwise – without feeling like they are being targeted or mocked.”