The Influence Of Mental Ill Health

The research shows that UK bosses badly under-estimate the extent to which their employees and fellow managers are suffering from stress, anxiety, depression and other forms of mental ill health. Furthermore, around one-third of employees will experience stress, depression or some other form of mental ill health in a year, but only one in six employers (17%) recognises that this applies to their people too. And one in three companies (34%) does not use any of the standard ways to monitor staff stress levels on an ongoing basis.

In virtually every job, the potential for unavoidable stress exists and employers are increasingly recognising this.

Mental ill health, which can be caused or exacerbated by stress, is now the number one cause of white-collar

A warning sign for stress absence is often a few days of short-term absence here and there, which can often lead to long-term absence.

How to manage stress

The first step towards understanding stress within an organisation is to identify whether the company's working environment is more stressful compared with other organisations and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines, and if so where the 'hotspots' are that need to be addressed. This process is typically known as a stress risk assessment or a stress audit.

Employee health and stress surveys are often the starting point for a business. They provide a benchmark on the health and wellbeing of the workforce against HSE standards as well as other organisations and will provide guidance on where initiatives and budget should focus to address any issues that are highlighted. This will provide a company with recommendations on issues that need to be addressed and each individual can be provided with a personal

Organisations where there is more stigma attached to mental illness are more likely to be a target for stress litigation as the illness is less likely to be treated with respect and dignity. In addition, those who are stressed will find it harder to report their illness and receive assistance.

There are a number of ways to help staff who report stress, such as individual stress assessments, e-learning stress management tools and reasonable adjustment to the workplace, such as phased return to work, reduced or flexible hours or changes to job role and procedures.

Health promotion is also a key factor as a healthy diet helps individuals' wellbeing. During working hours, the workforce is more susceptible to health education programmes such as healthy eating, smoking cessation mad stress prevention. Providing primary care services on-site can add further benefit -- for example, offering blood pressure measurement, cholesterol and glucose.

In addition, it is often beneficial to have an OH assessment and sometimes a specialist psychological report. Finally, it is always important to ensure the person is receiving effective psychological therapies to help them cope with their