Sometimes these feelings can persist and become more severe. Data tells us that 1 in 6 working age adults suffer from diagnosable mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. The key to preventing mental ill health and minimising its impact when it does occur is raising awareness and providing a supportive culture where people feel able to seek help at an early stage.  

As people spend much of their waking hours at work, employers have a key role to play in supporting employees to maintain their mental health.  This will benefit the individual but in turn can have key business benefits such as reducing sickness absence and staff turnover.

NHS Doncaster and NHS Rotherham have worked together to produce a Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace Toolkit. The project, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, is part of the regional Altogether Better portfolio of projects helping communities across Yorkshire and the Humber.  The toolkit will help employers across the area promote the mental wellbeing of their workers and put in place policies to support staff through difficult periods in their lives. 

Jess Wilson is a Health Promotion Specialist at NHS Rotherham;

“Apart from the obvious human cost of mental ill health, maintaining mental health is key to workforce productivity, customer satisfaction and reputation.  

“We have produced this toolkit to support employers in developing, incorporating and promoting practices that encourage positive mental well being in the workplace. The Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace Toolkit is based on an employee’s journey starting from recruitment through to being in work and eventually moving on. The toolkit offers practical advice on managing absence, the induction process and supportive workplace schemes such as awareness, training and buddy schemes”.

Stacey Balmer, HR Advisor from Voluntary Action Rotherham is introducing the recommendations in the toolkit;

“I think it’s extremely important to look after staff wellbeing, not only to ensure that you have a happy, healthy working environment but to also aid staff motivation and productivity. The mental wellbeing workplace toolkit has been a great help in showing us as an organisation to think practically on how we can promote this in the workplace. We found the employee support section the most useful and have made the resources available to all staff in our organisation. We will also be looking to introduce the management competency indicator tool to all staff who line manage others and to also make it mandatory for line managers to attend the training in mental health awareness.”

The new toolkit is being launched at a free event for employers to be held 9-1pm - 23rd November 2010 at the Holiday Inn near Junction 33 off the M1. 

Employers are welcome to attend but should contact the project to book a place.

For more information contact Jess Wilson, Public Health Specialist on 01709 302727.