Nine in ten of us feel our work has made our mental health worse – we need urgent changes in the workplace

Between October 2021 and February 2022 we ran a survey open to anyone who lives or works in Wales.  We wanted to capture how people felt their mental health and working lives had changed, or not, through the pandemic. A full report of the results of this survey is coming soon, but in the meantime, here are the headlines:

Of 1174 respondents

• 78% agree that the pandemic has affected their mental health
• 93% agree that work affects their mental health
• 89% agree that work has made their mental health worse
• 43% of respondents mentioned that there was a source of support for their mental health at work, but, of those who mentioned some support mechanism was available only 22% would feel comfortable accessing it.

Phased return?

Overwhelming we heard that a phased return from a period of mental ill health is NOT a solution by itself.

Of those who had time off due to mental ill-health, the majority had a phased return – which sounds good in theory.

But that was where it ended – we found that people returned to a workplace where numerous issues remained. For example, enormous workloads where no one had picked up their work in their absence, and no changes to their work or conditions to prevent relapse. People also reported difficulties with colleagues who didn’t know what to say to them, stigma, and sensing attitudes that they were lazy or a slacker.

This led to valuable staff retiring early, going part time and losing money they couldn’t afford to, or even causing them to go off sick again.

Pandemic effects

No one was untouched by the pandemic, but we found that mental health issues were different depending on where you worked.

• Work from homers were dealing with loneliness, not being able to switch off, lack of support, and stress of creating workspace in a busy home.
• Frontline staff reported feelings of anger and exhaustion at having been on the frontline since day one of the pandemic with no respite and not enough protection, while others were furloughed or able to work from home. Not only in the NHS, care homes and schools, but also in less-publicised employment such as retail, chemists and pharmacies, doctor surgeries and dentists.
• Customer-facing workers told us they faced daily abuse from clients/customers/members of the public who refused to adhere to mask-wearing/social distancing/queueing. Understandably, this often had a negative effect on their mental health.
• Many workers also reported confidence loss. This is still an issue for many, both in work and outside of work.  These were the hardest stories to hear, and affected people from all groups.

“I no longer laugh, I no longer go out or do anything much outside of my house”

Solutions to current mental health issues in the workplace

It’s all very well finding out how bad the picture is, but what can we do, as reps and workplace advocates, to improve working lives?

We need:

Mental Health policies that are effective and well-publicised – it’s no good if they sit on a shelf – on which staff, managers and reps are trained.

Effective flexible work policies that allow people to work where and how they flourish best – not limited to desk-based staff. This should also include the ability to compress hours e.g. during term time/busy periods for the business, or altering start/finish times to suit needs/avoid busy commuter times.

A network of trained Mental Health First Aiders/ambassadors – on the shop floor, in office spaces, in the canteen.  The more we have, and the better promoted the role becomes, the more we open the conversation. Mental Health First Aiders/ambassadors should also attend union branch meetings and have space on the agenda.

An individualised approach to mental health support at manager level. This is something Union Learning Reps have been doing when it comes to workplace learning for decades. They don’t simply offer Spanish stage 1 to all staff without checking what people actually want or need.  Managers should be taking the same approach to the mental health needs of individual staff.

EAPs (Employee Assistance Programmes) are valuable and should be encouraged, but it’s not enough in and of itself – many respondents see that as “off-shoring” support to another organisation.

A norm where management are encouraging reps to attend relevant workplace meetings to hear member views and encourage dialogue upwards as well as downwards.

To normalise change – we must create time and space for discussion on issues that affect working people. Work has the potential to be a comfort blanket, not a daily trial.

For more ideas and advice, download our Mental Health and the Workplace toolkit which is aimed at union reps and workers. It provides information, awareness and representation for workers experiencing mental health issues and can help you address some of the points above.