When your brain says NO to work
How mental health issues such as stress and anxiety weigh down the British workforce
A recent Mental Health Foundation survey found that only 13 % of its British respondents live with high levels of mental health.
Therefore, it cannot surprise that poor wellbeing affects the Brits’ ability to perform at work to such an extent that 70 million working days are lost every year.
Despite expert advice that good mental health should be a main priority for every business, 9 out of 10 affected employees still experience stigma or discrimination among colleagues.
Mental health issues spanning from stress to anxiety to various phobias cause 3 main problems for the Brits’ work performances and the British work force: Absence, i.e. days out of office, turnover, i.e. employees leaving a job and presenteeism, meaning not performing to full ability at work due to a mental illness.
What makes it tricky is that mental issues are difficult to spot for outsiders such as colleagues or superiors. An emotional sign of low mental health at work may be irritability or uncharacteristic loss of confidence, while a cognitive sign is disturbed concentration or problems in decision-making.
In 2013, mental health problems accounted for 40% of those claiming Incapacity Benefit and 23% of new claimants of Disability Living Allowance, says an Independent Report from the Department for Work and Pensions.
To limit the costs of mental health and create a supportive work environment coping with issues such as stress and anxiety, companies can promote an open organizational culture around mental health and support individuals in coping with inner struggles already from a preventive stage, suggests a 2017 report from Deloitte.
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