Samantha Downie, managing director of Mates in Mind, discusses the importance of taking mental health in the workplace seriously, and how to create and keep an effective policy for employees
Work should be good for us. We all have a role to play in optimising the mental health of everyone working across the construction sector, and senior leaders should take the lead on that. Wondering where to start? Well, my advice is to do just that:
- Start as you mean to go on – make a commitment.
- Start assessing where you are – so you can set targets of where you want to be.
- Start creating a culture of prevention – so no one reaches crisis point.
- Start building positive mental health in and through work.
- Start spotting the signs.
- Start conversations.
- Start signposting support.
- Start addressing the stigma.
- End the crisis in construction mental health.
But, of course, mental health is not simple; it is complex and nuanced. It will be different for everyone, and for everyone, it will vary across the day, week, month, and year, whether at home, work or leisure. On a sliding scale, you can be anywhere between positive mental health through to mental ill-health. Mental ill-health is not the same as mental illness. And, above all, despite the fact that a third of construction workers live with severe levels of anxiety, far too many people are still afraid to talk about it due to the stigma that surrounds it. Research found that ‘over half of UK employees (and notably 57% of Millennials) do not feel comfortable disclosing mental health or psychological conditions’.
But, together, we can change that
By this point in the calendar year, you will already have your strategy, plans and key performance indicators in place, and no doubt you will already be working hard towards your quarter one targets.
Whilst the timeline for that process will be dependent on your organisation type, size and sector, what is common to all planning is the starting point – research. You need to know where you are (using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). along with PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Environment and Legal) analysis, in order to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed) objectives and plan how you are going to achieve them.
Do your plans include the mental wellbeing of your workers?
Did you know that mental health in the workplace is a legal requirement? Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, The Equalities Act 2010, and Protection from Harassment Act 1997, employers have a duty of care to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees, including mental health/stress, and to protect employees with mental ill-health against discrimination and harassment.
Therefore, the answer to my previous question about whether you include mental wellbeing in your plans, should be ‘yes’. But do all of your managers know their responsibilities? A study found that, ‘Interviewees referred to a lack of understanding about their roles and responsibilities as an employer or manager related to mental health at work: ‘there might be a government policy in place, I genuinely don’t know’’.
Do you have a mental health policy in place?
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is very clear on its stance on this. Employers should ‘Assess the risk of stress, and its impact on mental and physical ill-health, in the same way as you assess other work-related health and safety risks.’
Given that the HSE are actively investigating suspected organisational failures in managing mental health risks, it would appear that not all organisations follow this guidance, so it is worth noting that it is anticipated that there will be more investigations in future.
Do you conduct individual stress risk assessments with your team?
Given that employers have a legal duty of care to ensure the mental health and wellbeing of their employees, and the increased vigilance from the HSE in terms of infringements, the answer to the question above should be ‘yes’. However, even if you believe the answer is yes, have you checked that your employees feel the same way? Research found that whilst ‘47% of employers said they offer regular workload reviews to their employees, … just 14% of employees said they receive this’.
If, however, your answer is ‘no’ or ‘unsure’, then Mates in Mind can help. We believe that work can, and should, be good for us. Our vision is positive mental health in and through work. We achieve that by working with organisations to build cultures of prevention designed to support individuals before they reach the point of crisis. And in the same way that all good strategies start with research, we start with assessment.
Where are we now?
Within any organisation, there are bound to be multiple moving parts, which can make it hard to pin down any specific potential areas of improvement.
Therefore, our recommendation is to assess the current situation within your organisation, identify any gaps in provision, and determine necessary changes. This can involve desk research, as well as consulting with employees. This may seem obvious but given that ‘54% of employers claimed to have asked what mental health provision employees need, only 15% of employees said they have actually been asked.’
Using anonymous surveys (e.g., online tools like Survey Monkey) are recommended for employee consultation, because, as we saw earlier, many UK employees do not feel comfortable disclosing mental health or psychological conditions.
This is why we encourage our Supporters to start their journey with us by undertaking our specially developed assessment, which will help your organisation determine the gaps which may be preventing you from reaching your desired goals.
These gaps can exist in either knowledge, practices, or skills. Knowing what is working well and what needs to be developed is an important step towards reaching your organisation’s mental health and wellbeing goals and could also save a life.
Assessment is also important because a survey found that ‘Nearly two-thirds of businesses (64%) say they have seen a rise in absenteeism because of employee mental ill health’ and yet ‘less than half (44%) collected data on employee mental health conditions, whether anxiety or depression’. ‘Although slightly more (46%) did collect data on stress-related disorders.’
This is why our assessment starts with questions on sickness absence levels and staff turnover rates. It also looks at what you already have in place, e.g., policies and assessments, Mental Health First Aiders etc. It gauges senior leadership commitment – because gaining management buy-in is an essential first step in ensuring that mental wellbeing is integrated into the organisation. Through open, collaborative, and inclusive communication, management can achieve wider organisational buy-in and manage any resistance to change.
The assessment continues through practical support, communications, awareness and more. It is designed to be comprehensive in order to identify what you do already, what is working, and most importantly where the gaps are either in terms of ensuring your mental health provision is effective, or gaps in the provision itself.
Where do we want to be?
Now you know where you are, it’s time to set the SMART objectives I mentioned at the start. They should be based on the gaps that were identified, as an idea they could include:
- Commitment – at senior level, add mental health to the agenda of all senior leadership team meetings and include progress made as part of your annual report. Normalise conversations about mental health by including check ins as part of all team meetings.
- Education – ensure you provide the entire workforce with the skills, knowledge, tools, and confidence to create a peer support network, which will contribute to building a safer workplace for everyone. If you have not done this, then set training targets for each team.
- Support: did the assessment show gaps in provision, e.g., can all employees, supply chains, and contractors access the support they need when they need it? If not, set a target here.
How will we get there?
I would suggest the place to start is to look at your workplace culture. If you do not have an open and supportive culture, then the above process will not succeed. Find out how to optimise mental wellbeing through workplace culture.
As the managing director of Mates in Mind, I’m sure you will not be surprised by my second piece of advice, which is to talk to us. We were founded in 2016 by the Health in Construction Leadership Group (HCLG) with the support of the British Safety Council, to improve the mental health and wellbeing of workplaces across the UK. Supporting the mental health of all workers across the construction sector, and related sectors, is still at the core of what we do.
Our Mates in Mind assessment will identify and evaluate any opportunities for improving mental health literacy within your organisation. We will then send over your personalised report and plan of action, developed specifically for your needs. Our Support Managers will work with you every step of the way to help implement your plan and help your organisation reach its goals.
How will we know when we get there?
We recommend that you repeat the assessment stage every year to establish progress made, to understand where you are on your mental health journey and establish if/where any gaps remain. Following that, new objectives and an updated plan, can be put in place.
Next steps
Going back to my earlier point about mental health policies and individual stress risk assessments – templates for both of these are available on our Supporter portal (along with resources, training, communications, information on supporting apprentices and more).
Large organisations may already have a comprehensive plan in place, and your assessments may tell you that you are performing well. However, we believe there is always more you can do, both to support your own teams and the SMEs and sole traders in your supply chain. Our Champions Programme provides a model of best practice for those organisations ready to lead the sector.
If you would like to find out more about the benefits of joining our community, please visit our website to find out about our Supporter Programme and Champions Programme, or call the team on 020 3510 5018.
We would love the opportunity to work with you to create a mentally literate and healthy workforce.
