£34.9 Billion is the Cost of Mental Ill Health to UK Business
The Mental Health Foundation reports that in 2018, 74% of people have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope. In addition, 44% of all work-related ill health was attributed to work-related stress, depression or anxiety which equates to 15.4 million days of work lost (The Labour Force Survey).
Employees spend more time ill at work than they do taking sickness absence and, as a result, their productivity in the workplace is reduced between 6 –10 times (Nottingham Business School). Research also shows that a drop in IQ of over 10% is possible, resulting in an increase in poor decision making and mistakes. This deterioration in performance is a cause of what is known as ‘Presenteeism’ and has been calculated to have a lost productivity cost to the employer of over £4,000 per person per annum.
Whilst not all presenteeism can be attributed to stress related illness, the common denominator appears to be that employees are staying at work and suffering in silence rather than seeking help for their conditions.
Causes of work-related stress
The reasons cited as causes of work-related stress involve workload, lack of managerial support, violence, threats or bullying and organisational change as the primary causative factors.
Tackling stress in the workplace
Whilst stress may lead to physical and mental health conditions and can aggravate existing conditions, the good news is that it can be tackled.
According to Health and Safety Executive (HSE), taking action to remove or reduce stressors can prevent people becoming ill and avoid those with an existing condition becoming less able to control their illness. The following HSE guidelines cover six key areas of work which, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health, lower productivity and increased accident and sickness absence rates.
The Management Standards are:
The guidelines are a useful tool when managing an organisation in predictable times, but unfortunately our current economic, political and financial environment is anything but predictable and therefore, effective use of this tool is challenging.
One possible indicator of business’ inability to navigate the excessive unpredictability is the continued rise in the number of UK businesses going in to administration. Brexit uncertainty makes business planning difficult, even for the most robust of companies.
But can we blame it all on Brexit? Consider also the succession of financial crises and natural disasters over the past decades, alongside large corporate scandals involving significantly poor governance as well as disruptive technologies that have brought both opportunity for new entrants and risk for existing businesses.
VUCA – Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity
The VUCA concept is likely familiar but one that is not altogether welcome in the corporate world. It is believed to have been first introduced in the early 90s by the US Army War College to refer to the multilateral world that emerged after the end of the Cold War and was characterised as being more 'VUCA’ than ever before.
The concept of VUCA has relevance for strategic leadership in how businesses view the conditions under which they make decisions, plan forward, manage risks, foster change and solve problems. Whilst that may be great in theory, how can we ensure that businesses are able to make the most use of this kind of thinking?
Adapting and thriving in this environment is tough for businesses and in particular for their employees. For example, making long term investments in equipment or business systems is risky when requirements might change mid-project. And when requirements change so do jobs, organisational structures and role designs. Life becomes uncertain.
A significant problem is that for many centuries, we have been raised in a context in which we believe the world is predictable. We are now forced to work with high levels of uncertainty.
Our species have survived and prospered for millennia by learning from the past in order to secure our future. Without this ability to predict the future based on the past, to identify risks, we would not have been able to survive as a species. It is no wonder then that the need for certainty is one of the elements in Tony Robbins 6 Human Needs, which he has based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
The true meaning of resilience
Our VUCA environment means that business and its employees must focus on all possibilities of what might happen rather than simply on what is likely to occur. However, making this change, is easier said than done. Research repeatedly shows that this is not how the brain naturally works. Our general process is to cut, reduce and catergorise information.
Organisations are expecting the talent within their workplace to not just handle the uncertainty but operate effectively therein. Employees must hold all options in their minds and be ready to respond to unpredictable changes, not just in terms of business strategy but the consequential impact this may then have on their employment, job security and financial stability. This requires them to have the capacity to do this, the commitment and the resilience to handle the extra stress that this brings. And resilience isn’t simply our ability to bounce back but rather our ability to adapt to unpredictable changes.
Monitoring stress in the workplace
With the expectation that stress and the associated physical and mental ill health in the workplace is likely to increase, it is important to consider developing a process to regularly look at stress within the workplace. Leaders and managers, if made aware of its importance, play a crucial role in looking out for issues. Understanding the nature of stress and its impact on physical and mental health means changes in behaviour are more likely to be recognised. Life events or changes in circumstances have considerable impact on a person’s wellbeing, whether it be a new baby, an ill or aging parent or a teenager’s exam nerves. Each may potentially affect someone’s work performance. Money worries in particular can also impact people with the simplest of jobs.
Open conversations in the workplace
The more people feel comfortable talking about their wellbeing or the impact of stress and mental health in the workplace, the more quickly a situation can be dealt with, resolved or managed and its impact reduced. This requires an open culture where employees can talk about how they feel without the fear of discrimination. Much is being done to achieve this, most notably through the two mental health campaigns - ‘Time to Change’ and ‘This is Me’.
A number of high profile business people have disclosed their mental health challenges including António Horta-Osório, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group and Jayne-Anne Ghadia, CEO of Virgin Money. This is echoed with some emphasis within the celebrity world too.
The above campaigns and the media’s coverage of high profile disclosures are all making notable in-roads to de-stigmatising mental ill health. But more needs to be done. This is borne out by the fact that, not only are 9 out of 10 employees touched my mental health challenges, but also 53% believe that opening up about a mental health challenge at work would be perceived as a sign of weakness. (Accenture November 2018). And of those, more than half (57%) reported at least one negative impact as a result of hiding their mental ill health, such as feeling stressed, more alone, lacking confidence, being less productive, or simply ‘feeling worse’.
As Mental Health Awareness week starts tomorrow, I hope that businesses will take action to reduce stigma in the workplace around mental health challenges. As a trainer in mental health awareness within the workplace I see first-hand the power of knowledge around mental health. Those who I have trained realise, not only the prevalence of mental ill health in society, but also the critical need for it to be recognised as simply a part of our overall health.
Take action. Reduce stigma. Make mental health a normal part of conversation.
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