Beyond Mental Health Awareness Week

In 2001, the Mental Health Foundation – a UK charity established in 1949 – launched the first national Mental Health Awareness Week to shine a light on an often overlooked and misunderstood subject.

Since then, businesses and organisations up and down the country have marked the occasion every May, promoting a more nuanced appreciation of mental health and its complexities in the process.

Today, more people than ever acknowledge the importance of mental health; more people than ever recognise the causes and signs of poor mental health and mental ill health; more people than ever empathise with those who struggle with both; and more people than ever are willing to openly discuss the topic.

Many employers have made great strides, too, addressing mental health and wellbeing in the office and on the factory floor through improved information sharing, management practices, and HR policies.

Much of this is a direct result of the influence and success of Mental Health Awareness Week, which takes place this year between 15^th and 21^st May and focuses on the theme of anxiety.

And yet, as 29-year-old entrepreneur and mental health advocate Dominic McGregor observes, the human mind and body are obliged, for better or worse, to persist for the other 51 weeks. So, what does mental health awareness in the workplace look like beyond Mental Health Awareness Week?

The problem

Despite the progress that has been made over the past few decades when it comes to perception, the mental health of the nation’s workers, managers, and entrepreneurs remains precarious – in many cases, because of work itself.

Indeed, according to a 2021 report published by the Samaritans, up to 60 percent of people surveyed said they had experienced mental health issues because of their job, while work-related stress, depression, and anxiety accounted for 57 percent of lost working days during 2017/18.[i] The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, meanwhile, suggests that one in six employees are currently experiencing mental health problems.[ii]

The individual anguish at the heart of these figures should always be the headline. But the wider financial implications are more than worthy of a footnote. Data from the Centre for Mental Health, for instance, shows that the cost of mental health issues in the UK workforce rose from £26 billion per annum in 2007 to £34.9 billion in 2017 – equivalent to £1,300 for every worker in every business. £21.2 billion of this was put down to reduced productivity due to “presenteeism”, £10.6 billion was attributed to sickness absence, and £3.1 billion was blamed on staff turnover.[iii]

Writing in the Manchester Evening News in 2018, McGregor was blunt in his assessment of the situation: “In short, businesses are failing to support the mental wellbeing of their employees.”[iv]

Employers are clearly faced with a challenge, then. What about the solution?

Proactive solutions

Unfortunately, a simple one does not exist.

Mental health and mental ill health are complex phenomena, ranging from loneliness and stress to trauma and psychosis. They have both psychological and physiological aspects, with each person responding uniquely to different triggers and – if required – treatments. To effectively support the mental wellbeing of their workforce, employers must therefore understand and embrace this diversity, developing policies that reflect it.

As McGregor puts it: “It is the responsibility of those within a business to create an environment which first and foremost limits the potential for someone to develop mental health problems. This all comes down to the culture within the business.”[v]

What does this mean in practical terms?

Not long ago, the Good Employment Charter and Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership published a toolkit aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that offers some answers. As well as providing background materials on mental health and its intersection with employment, the toolkit outlines an eight-step checklist for employers.

Each step includes actions to promote good mental health in the workplace:

1. Make a commitment to mental health

• Appoint a senior mental health champion
• Listen to employees’ views and experiences

2. Build you approach

• Understand the law
• Assess your needs
• Update your policies
• Create a mental health plan

3. Create a positive culture

• Promote healthy activities
• Reduce work stresses
• Communicate about wellbeing

4. Provide support and training

• Share information and policies
• Offer mental health training
• Support line managers

5. Manage mental health

• Make it safe to disclose mental health difficulties
• Tackle causes of work-related stress

6. Provide the right support

• Know how to respond when someone asks for help
• Signpost to external support
• Provide a confidential support service

7. Help people to recover

• Support employees back to work
• Use Access to Work support

8. Go further

• Measure success
• Keep reviewing your approach
• Share your learning with other employers

Each step is covered in greater detail over 61 pages: greater-manchester-mental-health-toolkit-2022.pdf (gmgoodemploymentcharter.co.uk)

Find out how to become a mental health advocate at work

Mcgregor agrees on the need to proactively embed mental wellbeing in day-to-day corporate culture. He is well known as the founding partner of investment fund Fearless Adventures and ex-COO of global marketing firm Social Chain and has written and spoken extensively about his own mental health and the pressures he faced running a growing corporation.

On Tuesday, 16^th May at Stoller Hall in Manchester, business leaders can learn more about McGregor’s story and his views on mental health, work, and productivity. The event, which begins at 9:30 a.m., will explore McGregor’s extraordinary career, highlighting the importance of prioritising the mental wellbeing of oneself and one’s colleagues.

Commenting ahead of the event, he said: “GC Business Growth Hub have been a great source of support in my career, so I’m really looking forward to sharing my experiences at this event. I’m hoping we can have an open conversation about what it takes to succeed and be happy in the modern world.”

Join us to find out more: In Conversation with Dominic McGregor Tickets, Tue 16 May 2023 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

In the meantime, if you run a small or medium-sized business in Greater Manchester and want to understand how mental health might impact your operations, GC Business Growth Hub’s #HereForBusiness package provides practical guidance and expert advice on a range of topics to help you manage the increasing cost of doing business.

If you have any questions, get in touch now.

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[i] Samaritans. ‘Wellbeing in the Workplace: Creating Happier, Healthier and More Productive Workplaces’, 2021, Artificial Intelligence (AI): Risks and Opportunities | GC Business Growth Hub

[ii] Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter. ‘Mental Health Toolkit for Employers: Your Journey to a Workplace that Leads on Good Mental Health Starts Here’, 2022, greater-manchester-mental-health-toolkit-2022.pdf (gmgoodemploymentcharter.co.uk)

[iii] Centre for Mental Health. ‘Mental Health at Work: The Business Costs Ten Years On’, 5^th September 2017, Mental health at work: The business costs ten years on | Centre for Mental Health

[iv] Dominic Mcgregor. ‘Employers Must Ensure the Mental Health of their Staff’, Manchester Evening News, 7^th June 2018, Opinion: Employers must ensure the mental health of their staff - Manchester Evening News

[v] Ibid.

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