Specialist support

Many employers offer support to individual employees through facilities such as Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs). The EAP at Loughborough University, for example, provides “confidential unlimited support on any matter that might be of concern to you — from mental health and wellbeing, through to legal, relationship and money matters”. The service is available 24/7 via online portal or telephone helpline, and face-to-face counselling is also offered where appropriate.

At Leyland Trucks, there is a 24-hour helpline, and the employee medical covers sessions with trained counsellors. The union rep commented that the counselling can be arranged “at quite short notice, something that our overstretched NHS can’t provide”.

Sandwell Metropolitan Council grants time off to attend counselling while GKN aerospace provides private counselling or supports those who choose to go through another organisation, such as the MIND mental health charity.

One thing to be wary of is a programme that seeks to make employees more “resilient” to work-related stress. Such programmes can deflect management attention from strategies aimed at preventing stress at work by encouraging individuals to withstand unnecessary pressure.