Admitting to stress and discussing mental health at work has long been taboo. It's time to change that since the working environment has such an impact on these factors and employers are legally obliged to assess the risks of work-related stress on their workforce. Money spent on improving mental health has shown a consistently positive return on investment and there are tax reliefs available to support investment. Employers can no longer afford to ignore people's mental health in the workplace.

Work-related stress, anxiety or depression now accounts for over half of all working days lost due to ill health. Common mental health problems like anxiety or depression affect 1 in 6 British workers each year at a cost of £33b - £44b to employers, up to £1400 per employee.

When our people have good mental health and feel supported when struggling with poor mental health they will feel more motivated, engaged and productive at work. Companies that promote health and wellbeing are seen as 3.5 times more likely to be innovative and creative.

By adopting a framework to address prolonged stress and mental health problems and creating a culture of openess around these topics your organisation can expect:

• increased productivity and subsequent increase in revenue
• enhanced performance
• increased motivation and resilience
• fewer missed days
• reduced presenteeism culture (where employees are coming to work when they're not really well enough)
• more empathic, effective leaders
• a move from strained relations between employees to good working relationships
• a more inclusive culture
• higher employee engagement
• better gender equality
• reduced staff turnover
• reduced legal risk

Click if you want to avoid poor morale, employee burnout and reduced productivity and instead roll out a framework that will help enhance performance, retain talent and increase your competitive advantage.  

Stress and mental health problems can present themselves in a number of ways at work.

Stress in teams can look like:

• arguments
• higher staff turnover
• more reports of stress
• more sickness absence
• decreased performance
• more complaints and grievances

Signs of stress in an employee:

• overworking
• loss of motivation and confidence
• increased emotional reactions like being sensitive, tearful, argumentative or irritable 
• struggling to concentrate or make decisions
• making more mistakes than usual
• being tired at work, rapidly losing or gaining weight, looking like they haven't made an effort with their appearance
• poor time-keeping
• drug or alcohol misuse

Physical impact of stress on employees:

• tired all the time
• grinding teeth or clenching jaw
• high blood pressure
• irritable bowel
• headaches
• chest pains
• heartburn
• IBS
• Various aches and pains
• Type 2 diabetes

Let's work together to implement a stress management and mental health at work framework and toolkit designed especially for your business and workforce.