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Good mental health at work and good management go hand in hand. Good mental health practices and a safe welcoming culture always need to start from the top managerial positions and filter its way down the organisation. Sadly, however not every workplace has good mental health practices and an organisational culture that is based around a safe working environment.
Focus Safety Training Centre Limited pride themselves on being an open mental health workplace and employer.
They employ and support employees with mental health issues and are working to stop the mental health stigma in the workplace from the top down.
The firms Taylor Crawford writes on: "A look at mental health within the workplace and how there needs to be a shift in culture for mental health stigma to change."
For the majority of people work is a major part of our lives. According to a study carried out by Accountancy Age: "British employees will averagely work for 34 hours and 26 minutes a week, adding up to a total of 1,795 hours a year and 84,365 hours a lifetime". (Lucy Skoulding. How long does the average UK employee spend at work? October 2, 2018. Accessed July 23, 2019)
This study shows us that a major part of our lives is spent within a working environment and we at Focus believe that this environment should be an open enjoyable one with a relaxed yet still business focused culture.
Focus believes that good mental health at work and good management go hand in hand. Sadly, however not every workplace has good mental health practices and an organisational culture that is based around a safe working environment and this is show especially in high stress business sectors for example the NHS. "91,000 NHS staff have taken at least a month off work due to stress since 2014" this again provides us with evidence that stress and mental health in the workplace are major issues that need addressed and a strategic plan implemented that will tackle these problems. (Sam Weston. Mental health in the workplace: The UK crisis in eight statistics. January 5, 2018. Accessed July 23, 2019)
These statistics wouldn't be as shocking and scary if employees and employers were engaging in conversation about the mental health crisis the UK is currently facing however statistics show us that this is not the case. "just 13% of employees would be comfortable talking about mental illness at work". (Sam Weston. Mental health in the workplace: The UK crisis in eight statistics. January 5, 2018. Accessed July 23, 2019)
A 2017 poll by the charity time to change have found that workers would rather talk to their colleagues about sex or money than discuss mental health worries. When asked to select from a list of issues the pollers felt they could discuss at work, 36% said they would talk openly about a physical health matter, 26% said about money issues and 18% said they would discuss sex issues while only 13% said they would feel open and comfortable speaking about mental health issues. (time to change. New research shows Brits happier to discuss sex than mental health at work. December 18, 2017. Accessed July 23, 2019)
When we at Focus review the evidence, we can speculate as to the cause of the continued stigma across workplaces when it comes to mental health.
We can draw to the theory of employees not feeling comfortable and safe talking about mental health issues within the workplace and employers not creating a safe working environment for employees to talk openly about mental health issues.
If we believe that these two theories are true, then what can we do as a training company and as an employer of staff to tackle this and bring about a change? This is where we believe that changing the culture from the top to the bottom comes into play.
Focus Safety Training Centre Limited are currently engaging at a strategic management level with multiple organisations to change the way they perceive mental health with regards to their employees. We do this through our Managing Occupational Health and Wellbeing course.
This course is specifically tailored and focused towards managerial/directorial who's decisions have a direct impact on employees. This course focuses on giving the managerial staff the tools and techniques to improve health and wellbeing across the organisation as a whole. It also focuses on why it is important to manage fluctuations in people's health it covers what to consider in a health needs assessment. The course covers how to help co-workers return to work after illness.
We at Focus also offer organisational seminars where we attend a full day of motivational talks and team building which is aimed at creating a more open organisational culture in terms of discussing problems.
We ask that all managers and directors operate an open-door policy and put in place a mental health policy which will appoint a number of mental health first aiders to look out for warning signs.
In conclusion we at focus pride ourselves on being an open employer in regard to mental health. We also believe that if we can change the mindsets and the culture of an organisation from the top then we can make that organisation a better more forward-thinking work environment.
