If you are on social media, you may have recently read about what happened when an employee emailed the CEO of the company regarding taking a day off from work due to mental health issue.
If you didn’t, here is a link to the article:
Senior managers can severely underestimate the scale of mental health problems in their workplace
There is now becoming more of an awareness regarding mental health, in the UK mental health problems cost employers £30 billion a year. This is through the loss of production, recruitment and absence. Statistics state one in four will suffer from mental health problems during our lives.
For the people affected it can be very difficult to talk openly about and it can become costly to the individual affected and the employer. The Centre for Mental Health charity believe the cost of the effect can be cut by a third by improving the management of mental health at work.
And employers also need to be aware that some mental ill health can be classed as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 if they have “a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”
The Act makes it unlawful for an employer to treat a disabled person less favourably for a reason relating to their disability, without a justifiable reason. Some forms of mental illness – such as dementia, depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia – are classed as a disability and need to be covered in an employer’s equality policies.
You may have also seen in the media the Heads Together campaign which was launched by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. This is available for companies to join up, if and when handling issues such as stress in the workplace, it will be much easier to use an existing campaign. By joining as a supporter, you can make use of films, messages and other materials from the campaign to promote openness about mental health within the company. You can also use the Heads Together supporter logo.
Heads Together mental health charity.
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