Mental ill health costs UK employers £25billion, says new report

[mischief]

This makes interesting reading!

Source: The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 13/12/2007

Mental ill health costs UK employers £25billion, says new report

Businesses across Britain are losing £1,000 a year for every person they
employ because of mental ill health among their staff, says a report
published today by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.

Mental Health at Work: Developing the business case finds that the total
cost to UK employers of mental ill health among their staff is over £25
billion. That is equivalent to £1,000 per employee in the workforce.

The costs comprise £8.4 billion in sickness absence, £2.4 billion to replace
staff leaving their jobs and some £15.1 billion in reduced productivity
among people still at work but unwell.

Mental Health at Work finds that mental ill health is a normal feature of
every workplace and less than one-fifth of it is directly associated with
working conditions.

On any day, one worker in five will experience mental distress. Mental
health problems account for 40 per cent of sickness absence from work. The cost of reduced productivity among people who go to work despite being unwell (so-called ‘presenteeism’) is greater still.

Mental Health at Work finds that simple steps to improve the management of mental health in the workplace should enable employers to save 30 per cent or more of these costs – at least £8 billion a year. BT, for example, has reduced its mental health-related sickness absence rate by 30 per cent through its WorkFit strategy.

Dame Carol Black, the National Director for Work and Health, said:
"Improving the support for mental health conditions came up time and time
again during my Call for Evidence and it will be a central theme in my
Review next year.

"Too often people only count the days lost to absenteeism. But as this paper highlights, presenteeism attributable to mental health accounts for 1.5 times as much working time lost as absenteeism. When bad management or inadequate support allows mental ill-health to develop at work, it's not just the employees who suffer. Poor mental health is poor business: it's just a fact."

Dr Bob Grove, Sainsbury Centre employment programme director, said: “The costs of ignoring mental health at work are astronomical. A small
organisation with 50 staff will lose around £50,000 a year. The NHS is
estimated to be losing £1.3 billion each year: equivalent to one quarter of
its spending on mental health care.

“Employers need to be aware of mental health. It affects every workplace in the UK. It is a normal part of the human condition. Yet most employers
vastly under-estimate how many of their staff will have mental health
problems.

“Employers who take effective action to improve the wellbeing of their staff
will reap the rewards for their efforts. They can take steps to reduce the
risk of mental ill health among their staff. They can train and support
line managers to respond quickly and effectively when staff do become
unwell. And they can help staff who do need to take time off to get back to work when they are ready.”

 

[wife]

ouch's blog on this

Jay

 

[midnight]

I have just joined a new company where I am in charge of health and safety improvements - I was interested to know what the sickness absence stats relating to mental health were and it cost our company £500,000 in 9 months.

We are now starting a 2 pronged approach
1. to support people when they are beginning to show signs of being unwell (through suppport, special leave, counselling etc)
2. more importantly reduce the hazards that induce ill health in the first place.

I hope those stats won't put people off employing people who are unwell,as I often feel companies shift balme onto the individual ( for not coping well enough) rather than questioning whether or not they run a business that will aggrevate illness

 

[mischief]

I have just joined a new company where I am in charge of health and safety improvements - I was interested to know what the sickness absence stats relating to mental health were and it cost our company £500,000 in 9 months.

We are now starting a 2 pronged approach
1. to support people when they are beginning to show signs of being unwell (through suppport, special leave, counselling etc)
2. more importantly reduce the hazards that induce ill health in the first place.

It will be interesting to watch to see whether your changed approach reduces the amount it costs. Have you based the approach on your own experience? or have you based it on available research?

 

[jolovesjazz]

Statutory Organisations don't support those with mental ill-health problems...

I work for my local authority and ironically, in mental health but the actual support provided for staff who have a mental health problem is absolutely appalling. Their policies brag about how they have systems in place to support staff with disabilities but when you seek that support, it is actually designed to punish you, degrade you, humiliate you and exacerbate your illness rather than support you.

I am right in the middle of a situation at the moment, whereby my employer has actually made me ill and the discrimination I have been subjected to has been incomprehensible. I am struggling to find the right kind of legal support to help me through this terrible time but resent the fact that I am having to go to such lengths, simply because my employer has been blatantly negligent in their duty to protect me as an employee.

Wish me luck, as I've got a long and arduous struggle ahead of me.

Good Luck to the rest of you, if you're lucky to find an undertstanding employer and for Goodness Sake, never work for your local authority or your local health authority as they are the worse offenders.

This makes interesting reading!

Source: The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 13/12/2007

Mental ill health costs UK employers £25billion, says new report

Businesses across Britain are losing £1,000 a year for every person they
employ because of mental ill health among their staff, says a report
published today by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.

Mental Health at Work: Developing the business case finds that the total
cost to UK employers of mental ill health among their staff is over £25
billion. That is equivalent to £1,000 per employee in the workforce.

The costs comprise £8.4 billion in sickness absence, £2.4 billion to replace
staff leaving their jobs and some £15.1 billion in reduced productivity
among people still at work but unwell.

Mental Health at Work finds that mental ill health is a normal feature of
every workplace and less than one-fifth of it is directly associated with
working conditions.

On any day, one worker in five will experience mental distress. Mental
health problems account for 40 per cent of sickness absence from work. The cost of reduced productivity among people who go to work despite being unwell (so-called ‘presenteeism’) is greater still.

Mental Health at Work finds that simple steps to improve the management of mental health in the workplace should enable employers to save 30 per cent or more of these costs – at least £8 billion a year. BT, for example, has reduced its mental health-related sickness absence rate by 30 per cent through its WorkFit strategy.

Dame Carol Black, the National Director for Work and Health, said:
"Improving the support for mental health conditions came up time and time
again during my Call for Evidence and it will be a central theme in my
Review next year.

"Too often people only count the days lost to absenteeism. But as this paper highlights, presenteeism attributable to mental health accounts for 1.5 times as much working time lost as absenteeism. When bad management or inadequate support allows mental ill-health to develop at work, it's not just the employees who suffer. Poor mental health is poor business: it's just a fact."

Dr Bob Grove, Sainsbury Centre employment programme director, said: “The costs of ignoring mental health at work are astronomical. A small
organisation with 50 staff will lose around £50,000 a year. The NHS is
estimated to be losing £1.3 billion each year: equivalent to one quarter of
its spending on mental health care.

“Employers need to be aware of mental health. It affects every workplace in the UK. It is a normal part of the human condition. Yet most employers
vastly under-estimate how many of their staff will have mental health
problems.

“Employers who take effective action to improve the wellbeing of their staff
will reap the rewards for their efforts. They can take steps to reduce the
risk of mental ill health among their staff. They can train and support
line managers to respond quickly and effectively when staff do become
unwell. And they can help staff who do need to take time off to get back to work when they are ready.”

 

[midnight]

It will be interesting to watch to see whether your changed approach reduces the amount it costs. Have you based the approach on your own experience? or have you based it on available research?

Its based on research. ( One fo the most notable names is James Reason ) But it stems from work reviewing looking at how diasasters have happened such as Piper Alpha, HErald of Free enterprise, Clapham, Kings X rail, Manchester air diasaster, Challenger and Columbia (NASA).

In brief its easy to attribute a disaster to the last action of the person when in most cases its the result of a number of interacting events many of which the 'organsiation' control such as how work is planned, how the work environment is designed, the hours people work etc etc.

E.G. Chernobyl had a number fo causes one of which was asking overtired operators to do very trivky testing procedures in the middle of the night. If the organisation had understood how they were stretching the capabilities of their people they may not have asked them to do it.

The same principle is being applied to situations in work which maynot create a 'disaster' in a tradional sense but may man that people are made psycholoigically unwell as a result.

I find it fascinating and am hoping to do the conference circuit soon once things are developed enough - so consider it patented - te he

 

[mischief]

Welcome jolovesjazz

I work for my local authority and ironically, in mental health but the actual support provided for staff who have a mental health problem is absolutely appalling. Their policies brag about how they have systems in place to support staff with disabilities but when you seek that support, it is actually designed to punish you, degrade you, humiliate you and exacerbate your illness rather than support you.

I am right in the middle of a situation at the moment, whereby my employer has actually made me ill and the discrimination I have been subjected to has been incomprehensible. I am struggling to find the right kind of legal support to help me through this terrible time but resent the fact that I am having to go to such lengths, simply because my employer has been blatantly negligent in their duty to protect me as an employee.

Wish me luck, as I've got a long and arduous struggle ahead of me.

Good Luck to the rest of you, if you're lucky to find an undertstanding employer and for Goodness Sake, never work for your local authority or your local health authority as they are the worse offenders.

Sorry to hear about what you've been going through and good luck with the fight that you're now going through. That in itself can be very stressful.

It will be interesting to hear from others as to their recommendations for good lawyers.

You might make some contacts through the Discrimination Law Association. They have a page on getting advice.

Interesting to note that their president is Sir Geoffrey Bindman, a leading civil rights lawyer who is well known in the field.

The Disability Law Service Home | Disability Law Service may be another
contact. I have heard good things about them from one person I know who has used them.