Mental health at work: how to beat the backlash
By Jo Faragher on 15 April 2024
Last month, there was an outcry from mental health campaigners when a senior UK government minister claimed that mental health awareness had “gone too far” and that people with mild conditions should get jobs. The comments came from an interview with work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, who said that the UK risked labelling “the normal ups and downs of human life” as mental health conditions, which would in turn hold people back from the jobs market and “drive up the benefit bill”.
Simon Blake, chief executive of Mental Health First Aid England, responded angrily at the time, saying that “it would be too easy to become numbed to the data, dismiss the realities of human distress and mental illness and ignore the underlying causes of the increased impact of poor mental health”. He said that the legacy of Covid was that we can now build new ways of working that support better mental health. “Our job is to use all we have learned, empathy and compassion to build workplaces that enable everyone to thrive,” he added. Debra Clark, head of wellbeing at Towergate Health and Protection, agrees with this viewpoint. “During the pandemic, wellbeing and mental health was front and centre, but now politicians are dismissing many people’s issues – does this make promoting mental health a challenge in organisations, and how can you overcome that?” she asks. “Mental ill health can impact a company’s bottom line as much as physical ill health, through increased absence rates but also through reduced productivity due to presenteeism. Companies therefore need to ensure they are doing what they can to support their employees in all aspects of wellbeing, including mental health, regardless of what is being said in the press or by politicians.”
Overdiagnosed or under-supported?
Ngozi Cadmus, a psychotherapist and approved mental health professional, says there has been growing criticism that some people are “overdiagnosed”, and believes the best approach is to be sensitive to individual experiences. “While it’s true that there has been an increase in diagnoses, and some behaviours once considered normal are now labelled as disorders, we must be cautious in our approach. The DSM-5, often considered the bible of psychiatry, has faced criticism for potentially medicalizing common human experiences, leading to overdiagnosis and reliance on medication,” she explains. “What one person experiences as a manageable struggle, another may find it severely impairs their functioning. An inclusive approach means validating each person’s experience without judgement, encouraging open dialogue, and providing appropriate support and accommodation as needed, rather than diminishing difficulties as mild. Inclusive dialogue and a nuanced understanding of mental health are vital for promoting well-being and addressing stigma.”
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, the industry body for the group risk sector, says its members are aware of this “growing swell of opinion” around medicalisation, but argues that this should not influence how companies react. “Regardless of that growing school of thought, it’s not appropriate to build policy by increasing stigma and without ensuring first that employers and employees understand the role that reasonable adjustments play in keeping people in work,” she says. “Furthermore, for those who are struggling with their mental health for whatever reason, there must be access to fast and appropriate support, including financial assistance where there is a prolonged absence from work.” More and more employers can do this via their benefits packages, she adds: “The less stigma there is in accessing such support the better, and we’d encourage employers to continue in their efforts to offer such support and encourage its utilisation.”
Be proactive
Being proactive about employees’ mental wellbeing can help, argues Daniel Stander, associate at law firm Vedder Price. He says: “Whilst the general understanding as to health and wellbeing and its link to a sustainable and productive workforce may have improved, there is evidence of the increasingly pressing need to shift from reactive to preventative measures to move the dial in a positive direction.” He believes that the post-pandemic approach to managing mental health – often through increased financial investment – does raise concerns, however, and places pressure on employers to deal with problems that were traditionally the scope of the NHS. “National mental health support services are under strain, placing employers under pressure to fill the gaps, often with limited resources and untrained or ill-equipped line managers, leading to more mental health-related absences,” he adds. To overcome this, organisations should consider promoting “mental fitness”. By proactively training and developing skills such as confidence and stress management, employers can foster a workforce that is not only healthier but also more resilient and productive. “This proactive approach to mental fitness aligns with the broader need for preventative wellbeing measures in the workplace,” he says.
On a practical level, normalising mental health as much as physical health can create impact, adds Clark from Towergate. Leaders need to demonstrate from the top that it is okay to discuss mental health challenges, and how to spot signs of mental health declining in team members,” she advises. “If someone asks: ‘how are you?’, we have all been ‘trained’ to answer ‘fine – how are you?’ – without even thinking about it. Next time someone asks, think about perhaps disclosing a little more – maybe share if it hasn’t been the ideal start to the day because the dog was sick as you were trying to leave or you are having issues with your teenager, making home a real challenge. Disclosing a little will give the other person permission to share.
Create community groups, including a mental health first-aid community, to raise awareness and reduce stigma. Hold events to raise awareness and shine a light on the support available to staff and share any personal stories people might be willing to disclose.” In terms of mental health absence, ensure policies and procedures are “fair and consistent”, she adds: “If employees are clear on their role, the expectations upon them, and they work in a psychologically safe environment where they can disclose if they are struggling, then there will be balance in dealing with persistent absence and genuine wellbeing challenges.”
Open cultures
Organisations should also look within themselves to see whether their culture could be impacting mental health issues and how they are reported. Moxham from GRiD adds: “Every employer will have their own approach but it’s important to examine corporate culture and address this first. For example, if workload is excessive and leading to burnout, repeated and persistent absence will be the result. After all, putting a fixed part into a broken machine may work for a while but is likely to result in a further breakage down the line.” Before even thinking about the support to offer, organisations should address these internal challenges as this can prevent absence in the first place and support a more sustainable return to work in the long term, she advises.
Karl Bennett, wellbeing director of employee benefits platform Vivup (and chair of the Employee Assistance Programme Association), says mental health support has not gone far enough. “It’s taken years of ongoing conversation to start removing the stigma of mental health. People are finally starting to talk about the way they’re feeling, the issues they’re experiencing,” he says. “This can only be positive, especially at a time when people are facing so many problems – burnout, cost of living, loneliness, economic concerns, grief, the list goes on and on. That people are now starting to talk to their employers, their peers, their family has been a goal of healthcare professionals for a very long time. Finally, the stigma is lifting, which helps people to understand and address their issues.”
He adds: “When mental health issues are out in the open, employers don’t need to second guess why employees aren’t contributing as well as they might have done. With it in the open, employers are able to work with anonymised data to better identify why employees are away from work and then build strategies for relevant, proactive and preventative support. This supports the entire organisational ecosystem, its people and teams included. This type of culture is where issues are understood, where better processes are created, where managers know how to lean-in. Hiding issues away – as if they’re somehow less important than physical illness – is a thing of the past.”
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