Managing Work-Related Stress and Mental Health

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched a campaign called Working Minds last year, the campaign is aimed at providing employers and workers with advice and tools to help recognise the signs and causes of stress, anxiety and depression.

Whether you're a small business or large corporation, the law requires all employers to carry out stress risk assessments and act upon the findings to prevent work related stress and support good mental health in the workplace. Statistics published by the HSE show that stress, anxiety and depression are the number one reasons for illness in the UK. Of the 1.7million workers that suffered from work-related illness, almost half (822,000) were due to stress, anxiety or depression.

There were many unforeseen changes recently, such as the pandemic and cost of living crisis, which understandably increased stress levels and consequent mental health issues. Employee wellbeing and mental health support is just as important as profit and productivity - because each is entirely dependent upon the other.

Many employees who suffer from stress, anxiety, depression or other mental health issues are left to manage it alone. Elizabeth Goodwill from Stress and Mental Health Policy at HSE, said: “We’re calling for a culture change across Britain’s workplaces so that recognising and responding to signs of stress become as routine as managing workplace safety"

Here at Good to Go Safety, I am very lucky to have mental health aware and sympathetic employers. As a long time suffer of anxiety and depression, i have found the last two years unbelievably difficult to navigate. Without the support of my employers i believe my mental health would most certainly have been much worse. Businesses who are able to identify mental health issues can resolve, mitigate and manage the impact mental health has on their business.

A report by Deloitte estimates that the total annual cost of poor mental health to employers has increased by 25% since 2019, costing UK employers up to £56 billion a year.

With mental health costing UK employers £56billion, Working Minds believe that effective, unrestricted communication at all levels is crucial to achieve optimum working and productivity. Reinforcing an atmosphere where there is job security and trust is essential for employee wellbeing at every level within an organisation.

TakeAIM is an APP (free on both GooglePlay and App Store) which enables companies to complete assessments of absolutely ANYTHING. Coupled with a web platform, TakeAIM provides analysis, visibility and insights to help companies manage their workplace. Each assessment is automatically sent to management via wifi (inspections can be completed without wifi and are automatically forwarded on once connection is re-established) with the ability to attach photos or annotations to provide additional information on issues.

Our customers have used the TakeAIM for completing all manner of items (DSE Assessments, COVID-19 Inspections, Site Safety Audits etc) due to how easy it is to create their own checklists. At the time of writing we have not had anyone create a checklist for workplace mental health but i believe providing your employees with a quick, simple way of completing a mental health and work-related stress questionnaire could be the first step to helping companies provide employees with a better working life.

Registering an account takes a minute, plus you'll have access to the system for 7 days completely free (no credit card details required). If you find TakeAIM useful and wish to stay with us after the 7 day free trial, the good news is that TakeAIM is a pay as you go system - there's no monthly contract and credit bundles start at an amazing £6.25 for 25 inspections. Click here to view all our pricing bundles.

Read the full HSE story.