Written by Rus Waygood, sales manager, group protection at Canada Life
With all that’s happened over the past few years – from the outbreak of a global pandemic, to a cost-of-living crisis and on-going geopolitical instability in Ukraine and the Middle East – it’s little wonder that the number of UK employees reporting work-related mental health issues has been on the rise.
According to data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 602,000 UK employees reported work-related stress, depression, or anxiety from mid-2018 to mid-2019. For the same period in 2021-22, this had leaped to 914,000 workers.
That’s an astonishing increase of almost 52 per cent.
Whereas this figure dropped to 875,000 in the 12 months from mid-2022 to mid-2023, research we commissioned from Opinium towards the end of last year suggests that we’re not out of the woods just yet.
In fact, the evidence tells us that workers still face significant challenges when it comes to their mental wellbeing at work. For example:
· A quarter of UK employees (25 per cent) indicate that the cost-of-living crisis has made them more stressed about their jobs
· Nearly one in five (18 per cent) say that work is impacting their personal and home life more than it did just two years ago, with 10 per cent being unable to switch off from work
· Just over half (51 per cent) work beyond their contracted hours every day, with 17 per cent working at least two hours overtime daily
The rabbit hole gets even deeper
Fifty-seven per cent of UK organisations cite mental ill health as one of the most common reasons for long-term employee absences, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) 2021 health and wellbeing at work survey.
Moreover, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) found that mental health problems cost the UK economy at least £117.9bn annually – a sum equivalent to 5 per cent of GDP. Most of this (72 per cent) owes to lost productivity and costs incurred by unpaid informal carers.
How are businesses responding?
The good news is that, as the UK’s number one group protection provider, we’ve seen employee wellbeing strategies become more of a priority for employers following the pandemic.
Encouragingly, we’ve also seen a movement away from a narrow approach to support. That is, with the cost-of-living crisis affecting multiple areas of an individual’s life – mental, physical, financial and otherwise – an increasing number of employers aim to provide a more integrated and holistic approach to address a variety of needs at once.
The pace of change in the way people choose to access support services has accelerated since the pandemic, too. Support is now coming in many shapes and sizes, and is both more accessible and personalised to the individual.
For instance, we include a mental wellbeing app, myStrength, with all our group policies. It can be downloaded easily and quickly, is available to users 24/7, and offers a wide selection of modules to aid wellbeing, from mindfulness meditation and help with sleep to support for anxiety and depression.
At Canada Life we also recognise that physical, financial, and mental health are intrinsically linked dimensions of wellness, not separate entities. We also provide access to a virtual GP, an expert second medical opinion service, legal and financial guidance, access to a nutritionist and more to complement the robust mental health support available and improve wellbeing outcomes.
The right strategy is key
With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to have serious effects on people’s livelihoods, companies need to ensure that they have an appropriate wellbeing strategy in place. For employers yet to implement one, it’s especially important to begin the process in the right way.
Whether experienced in the space or not, here are a few considerations to keep in mind.
1. Listen to your people
The best place to start is listening to your employees. Remember that one size doesn’t fit all, and a strategy needs to offer the right support to a diverse employee community. Simply put, by understanding what your people need, you’ll be in a better position to deliver it.
2. Include families
Furthermore, an individual’s wellbeing affects, and is affected by, those around them. So, if you can extend benefits to immediate family members of employees as well – even better. This forms part of a holistic strategy.
3. Aim for a holistic approach
The cost-of-living crisis is affecting businesses as well as individuals, and companies have their own challenges to overcome.
If, as an employer, you’re not able to provide financial support, you can think about benefits that may be able to help your employees in other ways: for example, through mental wellbeing apps. Outside of product benefits, businesses could also think about internal support, such as mental health first aiders and the provision of learning and development across different wellbeing topics.
4. Communicate well and regularly
Most importantly, whatever you already have in place, or can offer, ensure it is communicated properly to your employees and is easily accessible. As with all benefits, availability means little if employers don’t promote them effectively.
Emails, posters, digital brochures, one-page summary documents, and attention-grabbing posts on internal social media are all good ways to get the word out.
5. Look for policy benefits and support
There are various benefits on the market that are helping to ease the situation, like those offered via WeCare. This is a virtual support service we provide to eligible group client employees and their immediate family members, and includes mental wellbeing support, online GP consultations, diet and fitness plans, smoking cessation support, and much more. The service has seen over 80,000 cases since its introduction and has over 100,000 registered users.
6. But don’t forget company culture
Having noted all the above, employers, advisers and colleagues need to be mindful that mental wellbeing support is also a question of company culture. It’s essential to create a work environment that raises awareness of mental health and its importance, removes any stigma regarding mental health issues, and ensures that access to help is readily available.
The ultimate goal is for an employee to have the ability and confidence to reach out to their line manager and say ‘Hi, I’m not feeling great at the moment. I need some help.’
