--- title: "Stress and Poor Mental Health in the Workplace – what can employers do to help?" description: "In the 2017/18 financial year 15.4 million working days were lost due to work related stress, anxiety and depression, with over half a million workers reporting they were suffering due to work. One in four people in the UK will have a mental health problem at some point in their..." canonical: "https://www.safety-management.co.uk/news/stress-and-poor-mental-health-in-the-workplace-what-can-employers-do-to-help" type: "Article" publishedAt: "2019-04-24T11:35:03" modifiedAt: "2024-01-09T07:30:55" keywords: "Uncategorised" --- # Stress and Poor Mental Health in the Workplace – what can employers do to help? In the 2017/18 financial year 15.4 million working days were lost due to work related stress, anxiety and depression, with over half a million workers reporting they were suffering due to work. One in four people in the UK will have a mental health problem at some point in their... Canonical URL: https://www.safety-management.co.uk/news/stress-and-poor-mental-health-in-the-workplace-what-can-employers-do-to-help ## Article In the 2017/18 financial year 15.4 million working days were lost due to work related stress, anxiety and depression, with over half a million workers reporting they were suffering due to work. One in four people in the UK will have a mental health problem at some point in their lives – with the most common conditions being anxiety and depression. Work related stress, if prolonged, can cause both physical and psychological damage – including anxiety and depression. Every employer wishes to avoid poor mental health in their workforce and would never want to be the cause of it, but what can be done and what, if any, legal requirements are there? Every employer has a duty to protect their workers from foreseeable risks by carrying out a risk assessment and where required acting to eliminate or mitigate those risks. Stress is a foreseeable risk. To help employers comply with the law the HSE offers guidance standards on work related stress. Firstly, assess whether your organisation is at risk from stress. This should be carried out using the following steps - Identifying what the stressors might be in your workplace – these are the Risks - Decide who might be harmed by stress and how - Evaluate the Risks - Record your findings – develop and implement action plans - Monitor and review The HSE advise that by adopting their management standards (available free [here](http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg430.pdf)) and making a policy commitment to manage stressors, employers are likely to be legally compliant. In outline the HSE Standards cover six areas relating to stress. - Demands – this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment - Control – how much say the person has in the way they do their work - Support – this includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues - Relationships – this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour - Role – whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles - Change – how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation A sample of a stress risk assessment can be seen [here](http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/assets/docs/perfect-cakes-risk-assessment.pdf). Not all poor mental health is work related, but it does still have an impact on work. For example, the Construction Industry has realised that stress, anxiety and depression really affect their employees. Currently two construction workers take their lives every day. To try and tackle this epidemic two large, industry led campaigns have been launched. [Mates in Mind](https://www.matesinmind.org/), which is designed to raise awareness, address stigma and improve mental wellbeing in construction. [Building Mental Health](https://www.buildingmentalhealth.net/), has created a freely available, industry-wide framework and charter to tackle the mental health crisis in the construction industry. Other steps employers can take are signing up to an employee assistance program that offers free advice and support for employees, develop a culture that does not stigmatize mental ill health, training supervisors and managers in understanding mental health and ensuring return to work interviews are sensitive to the possibility of mental health issues. Having a positive attitude to mental health and managing potential stress at work is proven to help employers reduce absence, retain employees, increase productivity and generally have a happier workplace. If you would like to discuss stress risk assessments for your business, please [contact Ian Dakin at Safety Management](/contact#contact-form) and he’d be happy to help. Ian Dakin is a Mental Health First Aider and has experience of developing rehabilitation and stress reduction policies and practices in the workplace Article Copyright : [Safety Management Ltd](/) Image Copyright : [Katarzyna Białasiewicz](https://www.123rf.com/profile_bialasiewicz) Diagram Copyright : [© Crown copyright HSE](http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg430.pdf) ## Related guidance - [Practical Health & Safety Support: Knowing Where to Start and What to Do Next](/news/practical-health-safety-support-knowing-where-to-start-and-what-to-do-next): Managing health and safety can feel straightforward when everything is running smoothly. Policies have been written, risk assessments have been completed, and there have been no recent incidents. However, many organisations reach a point where they begin to ask more fundamental... - [Why Retained Health & Safety Support Gives Leaders Greater Confidence](/news/why-retained-health-safety-support-gives-leaders-greater-confidence): For senior operations, health and safety and facilities leaders, the challenge is rarely a lack of documentation. Most organisations already have policies, risk assessments and procedures in place, and many have competent people responsible for maintaining them. The more difficu... - [How Workplace Safety Audits Help You Focus on What Actually Matters](/news/how-workplace-safety-audits-help-you-focus-on-what-actually-matters): A workplace safety audit is often associated with compliance, paperwork and preparing for inspections. While these are all important aspects of health and safety management, they are not the primary reason for carrying out an audit. The real value of a workplace safety audit UK... - [What Should You Do After a Near Miss in the Workplace? A Practical Guide for Businesses](/news/what-should-you-do-after-a-near-miss-in-the-workplace-a-practical-guide-for-businesses): A near miss in the workplace is an incident that had the potential to cause injury, ill health, damage to property or interruption to business operations but, fortunately, did not result in harm. While it may be tempting to regard these incidents as isolated events because no on... ## Explore local coverage - [Explore local coverage](/locations): Browse support across regions, towns, services and sectors. - [Health & Safety Consultancy in Bedfordshire](/services/health-safety/bedfordshire): Health & Safety Consultancy coverage linked to Bedfordshire businesses and surrounding towns. - [Construction support in Bedfordshire](/sectors/construction/bedfordshire): Construction guidance connected to Bedfordshire operations and site risk. - [Health & Safety Consultancy in Bedford](/services/health-safety/bedfordshire/bedford): Health & Safety Consultancy support for Bedford and nearby areas including Luton, Dunstable.