Employee Outlook: Focus on mental health in the workplace - Mind

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Supporting mental healthin the workplaceSupport provided to employees with mental healthproblemsIn all, fewer than four in ten respondents (37%) say thattheir organisation supports employees with mental healthproblems either very well or fairly well. In contrast, more thana fifth (21%) of employees report that their organisationdoes not support people with mental health problems verywell or not at all well (see Table 8).However, a further third (31%) of respondents do notknow what sort of support is available in their organisation,suggesting that either there is not much support available orthat it is poorly communicated to employees.<strong>Employee</strong>s working in large organisations are most likely toagree their organisation supports mental health very well orfairly well. This might be because large employers are morelikely to provide access to occupational health services andemployee assistance programmes that provide confidential24-hour helplines and in some cases counselling.Disclosing mental health problems at workJust a quarter of employees say their organisationencourages staff to talk openly about mental healthproblems. People working for micro businesses are mostlikely to say that their employer ‘very much’ or ‘a little’encourages staff to talk openly about mental healthproblems, followed by those working in large organisations.This is likely to be explained by the fact that people workingin very small businesses are likely to have close workingrelationships, which can encourage greater trust anddisclosure, while larger organisations are more likely toprovide greater support, such as line management training,access to occupational health services and employeeassistance programmes (see Table 9).More than four in ten respondents (45%) say either theirorganisation does not ‘very much’ encourage staff to talkopenly about their mental health problems or ‘not at all’.A further 22% of employees say they don’t know, whichsuggests there is no encouragement to support people totalk about mental health problems.Table 8: In your opinion, how well does yourorganisation support employees who experiencemental health problems? (%)All Micro Small Medium LargeVery well 11 17 9 10 11Fairly well 26 14 26 24 31Not very well 13 6 10 12 17Not at all well 8 5 7 9 9Don’t know 31 21 35 38 31Not applicable 9 36 13 7 1Table 9: In your opinion, does your organisation encouragestaff to talk openly about mental health problems? (%)All Micro Small Medium LargeYes – verymuch7 13 6 4 6Yes – a little 18 15 13 12 21No – not verymuch20 12 19 19 22No – not at all 25 16 27 33 26Don’t know 22 12 23 26 23Not applicable 8 32 11 6 15 <strong>Focus</strong> on mental health in the workplace
Would you feel confident disclosing unmanageablestress or mental health problems to your employer ormanager?Just four in ten (41%) employees would feel confidentdisclosing unmanageable stress or mental health problemsto their employer or manager. People working in microbusinesses are most likely to feel confident to disclose to theiremployer or manager. However, just 38% of staff workingfor large employers would feel confident disclosing a mentalhealth problem to their manager. This suggests that whilelarge employers may encourage staff to talk about mentalhealth problems in their policies, their employees have lessconfidence in actually disclosing to their manager that theyhave a problem than people working in smaller organisations.This could be because managers in large organisationstypically manage larger teams and so trust between managerand individual members of staff may not be as strong (seeTable 10).In all, 45% of respondents think their manager or employerwould be supportive if they disclosed unmanageable stress ormental health problems. Just under a third (30%) don’t thinktheir manager would be supportive and a quarter don’t know(see Table 11).<strong>Employee</strong>s working for micro and small firms are more likelyto think their manager or employer would be supportive thanthose working in medium-sized and large firms.Just over four in ten respondents (43%) who described theirmental health as poor have disclosed their stress or mentalhealth to their employer or manager, with women (47%)more likely to disclose than men (37%) (see Table 12).Where respondents had disclosed, their experience wasgenerally positive, with 37% saying their employer ormanager had provided a lot of support and 51% said theyreceived a little support. Just 13% of respondents said theyreceived no support at all (see Table 13).In all, 73% of those respondents that had disclosed theirmental health problems said they had not experienced anyadverse treatment as a result, with 27% saying they hadexperienced adverse treatment (see Table 14).Table 10: Would you feel confident disclosing unmanageablestress or mental health problems to your employer ormanager? (%)All Micro Small Medium LargeYes 41 51 43 41 38No 43 28 41 44 47Don’t know 16 21 15 16 14Table 13: Did you receive any support from your employeror manager to manage your mental health and the demandsof your job? (%)All Men WomenYes – a lot of support 37 41 34Yes – a little support 51 33 61No – not at all 13 26 5Table 11: Do you feel your employer or manager would besupportive if you disclosed unmanageable stress or mentalhealth problems? (%)All Micro Small Medium LargeYes 45 55 47 43 43No 30 16 24 36 33Don’t know 25 29 29 21 24Table 14: Did you experience any adverse treatment fromyour employer or manager as a result of disclosing stress ormental health problems? (%)All Men WomenYes 27 26 28No 73 74 72Table 12: Have you disclosed your stress or mentalhealth problems to your employer or manager? (%)All Men WomenYes 43 37 47No 57 63 536 <strong>Focus</strong> on mental health in the workplace
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Page 8 and 9: ConclusionsThe survey highlights wh
Page 10 and 11: Background to the surveyThe CIPD ha

Employee Outlook: Focus on mental health in the workplace - Mind

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