CWU Distribute Mind Report On Stress And Mental Health In The Workplace

The CWU's campaign to keep members and USRs informed about work related stress continues this conference week with a letter to branches detailing advice about mental health issues at work, and enclosing a copy of Mind organisation's latest report into the mental health of UK workers.

Dave Joyce, CWU's National Health, Safety & Environment Officer introduces some of the basic facts about Mind's report in his LTB490/11:

"Leading mental health charity MIND who’s campaign vigorously to create a society that promotes and protects good mental health for all, a society where people with experience of mental distress are treated fairly, positively and with respect have published an important report as part of their latest campaign.

Mind state that Right now, 1 in 6 workers is experiencing depression, anxiety or stress and costing the UK economy £26 billion each year. Businesses can save money by creating a mentally healthy workplace. MIND are offering to provide Employers with guides and advice.

Employees who remain in work without the support they need cost UK businesses up to £15.1 billion a year. 70 million working days are lost every year due to mental ill health, with 10 million working days directly caused by work-related problems.

Staff turnover as a result of employees leaving their jobs due to mental ill health costs £2.4 billion. Improving and managing mental health in the workplace can help employers save around £300 per employee or around £8 billion a year for British industry as a whole. FTSE 100 companies taking action and reporting on employee health issues outperformed their competitors financially by 10 per cent on average in 2009.

MIND say that starting with simple and practical steps can make your workplace more mentally healthy.

Employers can sign up to MIND's 'Taking care of business' campaign to get regular updates and can download MIND Guides and Advice.

With one in four people likely to experience a mental health problem every year 'Mind' say it is critical that we raise awareness and promote good mental health for the benefit of all members of society. The report looks at stress and mental health in the workplace from a generic public interest perspective (employers and employees, in particular), as well as from the perspective of mental health service users. It looks at workplace stress as a trigger for mental ill health and covers issues of concern to service users such as Disability Discrimination."

The full LTB goes into detail of Mind's advice in coping with stress at work and other mental health conditions and identifies the key elements of the Mind report.

You can download the full LTB490/11 here

Whilst a copy of the 23 page report entitled " Stress and mental health in the workplace" is attached to the LTB and is also available to download from the E-Library Database using search term 'stress'.

Source: CWU

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