Health matters: health & work
Read Public Health England’s guidance on the links between health and work...
Read Public Health England’s guidance on the links between health and work...
Mental health at work is an issue that every organisation needs to prioritise. With this in mind, principal consultant Julie North has prepared a ‘quick reference’ summary of the recent Business in the Community (BITC) report, Mental Health at Work 2019: Time to Take Ownership, providing a helpful commentary and key recommendations for employers.
Based on based on YouGov survey data, the BITC report shows that mental health at work is a significant issue – and that organisations still have a long way to go to increase awareness and take positive action to address it. It finds that employers are contributing to poor mental health through a combination of poor working practices and organisational culture.
As the title of the report suggests, BITC believes that now is the time for organisations to take ownership of their contributions to the poor mental health of employees, and take positive action.
The BITC report has 3 main ‘calls to action’ for employers:
>> Download the full BITC report >>
More specific actions from the BITC report included:
In addition to the recommendations above, the BITC report found that:
There is much evidence to suggest that good work and job quality such as job design, relationships at work and working conditions have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing[1]. Conversely, poor work has a negative impact.
The BITC report found that poor mental health can stem from outside the workplace. For example, 48% of 18–29 year olds stated they experienced loneliness. Good work could go some way to help address this finding, by allowing people to create friendships at work.
Insights were also sought from specific groups of people and their experiences of poor mental health. Findings were that 79% of LGBT+ people are likely to experience poor mental health where work was a contributing factor, and 30% of black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) employees reported negative behaviour or outcomes due to their ethnicity.
The report included the good news that there has been some progress since the last report in 2018:
Access guidance on mental health at work
[1]Is work good for your health and wellbeing? Gordon Waddell and Kim Burton.
Working for a healthier tomorrow. Dame Carol Black.
Read Public Health England’s guidance on the links between health and work...
Read Public Health England’s guidance on the links between health and work...
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