Stress and mental health problems

There is a growing awareness of what the TUC describes as an “epidemic” of stress-related illness in the workforce. It is a big cause of long-term sickness absence for both manual and non-manual workers in the CIPD absence management surveys, and in the latest EEF research, one in four companies said they now lose more working days to stress and mental health disorders than musculoskeletal causes.

ONS figures suggest that stress, anxiety and depression were the cause of 15.2 million absence days in 2013, up from 11.8 million in 2010. But in a 2013 report, chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies put the figure for days lost to mental health illnesses at more than 70 million, describing it as the “leading cause of sickness in the UK“ (Employment is good for mental health).

Given the stigma of mental ill health, people may give other reasons for being absent. In a UNISON survey published in April 2015, of almost 3,000 ambulance workers, 55% admitted they did not tell their employer the reason they were off sick. One worker who had not taken a day off sick in 10 years said he was about to “explode”. Others described being tearful, suffering with migraines, post-traumatic stress disorder and feeling exhausted.

In response to evidence like this, mental health charity MIND launched its “Blue Light” programme to provide mental health support to emergency service staff (www.mind.org.uk).

Fast-tracking access to treatment for working people who may stop working due to mental illness is one suggested response. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) sees the problem of stress as particularly acute in the UK, and wanted to see a strong mental health focus for the UKs Fit for Work service (see page 21). It is an issue that the new service is addressing.

The CIPD says three-fifths of organisations are now taking steps to identify and reduce stress in the workplace. The public sector has traditionally been more proactive in promoting well-being and taking action to identify and manage stress at work, but private companies like Unilever are now taking it on too.