Despite the on-going mental health crisis, recent talk around how builders are “going woke” is now reversing the small progress the industry had made in tackling its high suicide rates and cases of poor mental health. Lee Mills of Citation discusses the Building Minds campaign, which aims to equip construction managers with the tools to help the struggling workforce
It is no surprise that construction workers face poor mental health – they work long hours, work away from home and often have short working contracts, adding to existing pressures of the job. When partnered with long shifts and unpredictable weather conditions, it seems obvious that the workforce would be under a lot of pressure with their mental health. Despite this, there is currently little being done about it amongst managers and business owners in the industry.
With current data from charity Mates in Mind showing that men in the construction industry are three times more likely to die from suicide than the average male, Citation’s recent research found that 71% of firms believe that there is a stigma surrounding talking about mental health.
As one of the core reasons for poor mental health rates in the industry being not speaking up when they are struggling, firms need to make it easier for construction workers to talk about their feelings. This means managers and bosses need to step up and change their work culture.
Although this won’t happen right away, there are ways to start making a change, and this comes from things such as implementing new policies around mental health and improving management training around the topic.
Dedicated mental health policies
Research carried out by Citation has found that 72% of firms in the sector admitted having no dedicated policy for providing mental health support.
Despite manager mental health training being one of the most effective ways of reducing employee mental health struggles, the research highlighted more than 70% of managers in the sector are unsure of what support they can offer struggling workers. This comes as more than 80% of construction bosses agree that trained managers can help to manage existing mental health problems in the industry.
To help those struggling with their mental health, bosses can set up specific policies to help. This could be having dedicated mental health trained employees or having clear guidelines around taking sick leave for your mental health.
Change of workplace culture
Employers believe the reasons for the high rates of mental health problems are due to the perceived stigma around talking about mental health.
Citation’s research shows that 78% of construction employers say staff are uncomfortable speaking about mental health, with 77% stating their staff avoid talking about it as they think it shows “weakness”.
These figures show that employers need to work harder to foster a more empathetic culture and create an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up if they’re struggling.
Managers aren’t expected to be mental health experts, but they do have the authority to set the right work culture, provide support and adjustments for those struggling and use tools to help improve the workplace. All of these can help a shift in the workplace culture, promoting a healthier place to work.
Training for construction managers in mental health
As well as the perceived stigma around mental health, industry bosses agree that there are other contributing factors to the poor rates including stress from general life (64%) and from working long hours (52%).
It’s the employer’s responsibility to create an environment where staff can speak about their mental struggles, and although the majority of bosses don’t currently provide mental health training, more than 82% agree that more training and support is needed.
To create a more open discussion around mental health, bosses and managers should try to understand the different factors that may contribute to ill mental health. Things like money worries, physical ill health and issues in personal relationships can be factors that lead to poor mental health. It is also important to know and understand the different ways that poor mental health can manifest – unexpected work errors, being late to work and a lack of concentration can all be signs.
Mental health training resources
There is a lot of work that needs to be done by employers in the construction industry. The dire rates of mental health issues in the sector can’t continue, and the most effective way of tackling these is through training.
To support bosses looking to provide more mental health support in their workplace, there is a downloadable webinar. Backed by industry bodies, the webinar highlights the current state of mental health in the industry, while looking at how employers can support mental health at work.
To download the webinar, visit Building Minds on the Citation website here.
Lee Mills
Service director
Tel: +44 (0)345 844 1111
