Mental Health at Work

If you have been in the UK recently you would have seen the advertisements regarding mental health. ACAS have now released a guide to dealing with mental health at work, which you can access by clicking on the link.

Mental Health, which is defined to include 'stress', may have more than a marginal impact on employers.
According to a recent study by the Charted Institute of Personal and Development, a third of medical absences are related to stress. The study, states that
'As in previous years, almost all organisations report that the main cause of short-term absence (four weeks or less) for both manual and non-manual workers is minor illness, including colds, flu, stomach upsets, headaches and migraines (Table 11). The next most common causes of short-term absence are musculoskeletal injuries, back pain and stress, although musculoskeletal injuries and back pain are more common causes of absence for manual workers, while stress appears to be more common for non-manual workers...The most common causes of long-term absence (four weeks or more) among manual and non-manual workers are stress, acute medical conditions (for example stroke, heart attack and cancer), musculoskeletal injuries (for example neck strains and repetitive strain injury), mental ill health and back pain' 




It seems that that this is an issue which employers should be taking seriously. The guide is designed to assist the employer or management to identify those employees who may be suffering from mental health conditions and how to manage this in the workplace. Further guidance may be obtained from Mindful Employer. I will in future posts deal with this issue in more detail.