Mental Health in the Workplace
The CWU works with its membership's two major employers Royal Mail Group (193,000 union members) and British Telecom (104,000 union members) to develop corporate Policies and procedures to create a culture that reduces the stigma of mental illness. The CWU has also been working to put in place occupational health arrangements that promptly recognises individuals with physical and mental health problems, providing a consistent approach to helping people with mental disorders, and provide practical support for them both in addressing the problems at work and in helping them return to work after sick leave on a rehabilitation plan. The Union is of the view that in the past, people with mental health problems have not fared well in the workplace and that this must change.
Dave Joyce, the Communication Workers Union's National Health, Safety & Environment Officer, said "Employers need to have in place a policy that can effectively deal with stress and mental illness at work and should be working in partnership with trade unions, mental health charities, local authorities and health trusts to tackle the problem. Generally, Britain's bosses badly underestimate the extent to which employees and managers are suffering from stress, anxiety, depression and other mental ill health."
"Mental health should be viewed as an integral part of
overall health and well-being, alongside and intertwined with
physical and social health. The media frequently distorts our views
of mental health issues. For example, most TV and movie characters
with a mental illness are violent. These representations distort
the public's view and reinforce the inaccuracies and
stereotypes that exist. The public's knowledge of mental health
therefore remains poor and such ignorance sadly fuels the stigma
and prejudice surrounding many aspects of mental illness. There
needs to be a better general understanding about these conditions
to try and remove the discrimination that surrounds mental health
problems."
"The CWU recognises the problems and supports the need for
better work opportunities for people who are disadvantaged in the
labour market due to physical and mental disability and ill health,
and our Union has been involved in supporting workplace initiatives
to deal with such problems."
"Mental health problems can affect anyone at any time, young or old, shattering the lives of those affected and the lives of the people close to them. One in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives. Each year, more than 250,000 people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals and over 4,000 people take their own lives. We want to do what we can to support initiatives aimed at creating a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress through support and information on managing their health condition while working, participating in rehabilitation schemes and promoting inclusion."
"Workplaces can have a particularly negative effect on the well-being of employees when poor management practices are the norm - and, for example, workers are overloaded, workplace harassment is tolerated, or employees perceive that they are being treated unfairly or with disrespect - the environment is unlikely to foster good mental health or contribute to the mental well-being of employees."
"On the other hand, a healthy workplace can contribute to the mental health of its employees. When good management practices are in place, and employees are valued and respected, and there's no stigma attached to those with problems, the workplace is unlikely to exacerbate, contribute to or create mental health problems."
"Far too few disabled people who want to work are being recruited by employers and too many disabled employees, including workers who become disabled after being injured at work, have in the past lost their jobs. The CWU has been seeking a new approach committing the employers to rehabilitation rather than medical severance. Losing a job, or failing to get one, leads to depression and with it long-term unemployment."
"We are being told that by 2020, mental illness is going to be the second ranking cause of death after heart disease. It's important that people are educated and the stereotypes and myths challenged. The typical reaction to those who experience mental ill health is fear and rejection. This lack of understanding can frequently lead to those individuals not seeking appropriate help."
The CWU has nationally agreed systematic policy statements of action on mental health with Royal Mail and BT who both recognise that stress is a real issue and that work-related stress is the root cause of a significant degree of mental ill health. These policies include:
- Commitment to a healthy workforce, placing a high value on both physical and mental health.
- Acknowledging that mental health problems have many causes, including stresses in the workplace.
- Listing factors which may lead to increased stress in the organisation based on risk assessment.
- Recognising that domestic factors (such as housing, family problems and bereavement) may add to levels of stress experienced by employees.
- Stating that the organisation is committed to a course of action, including:
* A proactive approach to identify root causes, increasing understanding of causes of mental health problems among the workforce;
* Action to combat workplace stressors and helping staff to manage stress;
* A responsive approach to identify those with issues and provide support managing mental health problems that occur effectively through early recognition and appropriate management (including early access to counselling or providing advice on sources of help);
* A rehabilitative approach to care for those recovering, taking action to manage return to work of those who have suffered mental health problems to ensure their skills are not lost to the organisation.
"Part of the approach is seeking to raise awareness about the issues and promoting a positive view of how the problems can be tackled by highlighting the procedures and support available and the benefits to individuals of improved mental wellbeing including; simply feeling better, improved relationships, higher levels of achievement at work, coping better with normal stress, increased protection against mental illness, better physical health, satisfactory quality of life, high morale and good self-esteem."
Royal Mail's Policy is that line managers have a responsibility to ensure that the work and working environment within their team does not lead to the experience of stress. The process is designed to ensure that controls are in place to combat work-related stress. Line managers should Involve the Union representatives and be proactive in confidentially discussing concerns with individuals if there are signs of stress and respond to a individual's requests for personal help, referring them to the Occupational Health Service (OHS), following through agreed actions to support the individual, understanding the problems and working out solutions on the basis of the individual's capabilities and monitoring the individual's behaviour along with the OHS over time to establish that the individual is receiving support . The Union Safety Rep will be involved in the planning and organising of the individuals duties.
BT has installed an online stress management toolkit, which enables employees to run through an assessment questionnaire about stress and their feelings from the privacy of their own PC or laptop. This avoids the individual worker having to discuss problems with the direct line manager who may be part of the problem or where insufficient trust exists and the individual may wish to discuss difficulties with someone else. They can also seek the assistance of their Union Health and Safety Rep.
Once they have completed the online questionnaire, depending on the responses given, the system will give a green, amber or red light to signify the level of stress and health risk the worker is exposed to. Amber and red readings will immediately alert managers, who've been trained for counselling in this area, to approach the employee and try get to the bottom of the issue, aimed at nipping it in the bud before the problem leads to the individual having to take substantial time off work. Expert support from the (OHS) will also become available to ensure the right kind of support is provided and is designed to assist staff in dealing with mental health difficulties.
"The CWU is also actively involved in supporting major programmes in which both Royal Mail and BT have given firm commitments to help workers to get mentally fit for their lives at home and at work, supporting people who develop mental illness and going beyond that and helping the workforce avoid ill health in the first place so they can lead happier and more productive lives."
ROYAL MAIL has a number of programmes running in this area, working in collaboration with the Trade Unions "CWU" and "AMICUS/CMA" - their "Feeling first class" wellbeing programme has a mental health strand and well being is about good physical, mental and social health of its workforce. This is a comprehensive health promotion programme which covers all health aspects including exercise and nutrition. Royal Mail also has collaborative pilot projects underway, working with the Department of Health, and Charities such as mental health charity "Mind" and "Samaritans" in a number of Royal Mail sites. The mind project includes actively recruiting people with Mental Health disabilities and providing the support to ensure they do well, and so far, results have been good.
Royal Mail is opening a number of Rehabilitation Centres across
the UK, and an extension of the physical rehabilitation approach is
now to pilot additional support for those with stress or mental ill
health problems. The early results look positive. Royal Mail now
has in place a 24 hour, 7 days a week Employee Assistance
confidential Helpline as part of one of the most comprehensive
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) schemes of any UK company.
BT has recently launched its "Positive Mentality
Campaign" teaming up with mental health charities to tackle
mental health problems among its workforce. BT, in conjunction with
the CWU, has done a lot to promote mental health in recent years,
but has confirmed that it has about 500 people off work sick every
day with problems such as anxiety, depression and stress. This
latest campaign provides guidance to employees on how to improve
their mental health both at work and at home. The campaign has been
drawn up by BT, working in collaboration with the Trade Unions
"CWU" and "Connect" and with the support of the
mental health charities, the "Sainsbury Centre for Mental
Health" and "MIND". The programme aims to
demonstrate how regular exercise, healthy eating, relaxation
techniques and even the support of friends and family can help to
ward off depression, stress and anxiety. It will also educate staff
to help reduce the stigma of mental illness and promote the range
of support services that BT provides for staff with problems.
"In considering mental health in the workplace, stress can
affect every aspect of our well-being - mental, social and
physical. It can therefore include, for example, anxiety and
depression, poor relationships, irritability, headaches,
indigestion, high blood pressure, and overuse of tobacco, alcohol
and drugs (social). In addition, where mental health is concerned,
stress can both lead to mental illness and be detrimental to
positive health, for example by lowering morale and quality of
life. If employees' mental health problems are ignored,
organisations will end up paying the price, and so more should be
done to help employees with a mental illness. There's both a
moral case and a strong financial incentive for action as
conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression could be costing
UK business up to £9bn a year because of sickness absence and
reduced productivity, according to a leading charity."
"It's also worth remembering that people are protected from discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), if they have a physical or mental 'impairment' which has a substantial, adverse and long-term effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities which includes people with mental health problems. Negative, stigmatising attitudes are a serious obstacle to the development and successful implementation of a mental health policy and hence the improved mental health of employees. Consequently, the most important step in the process is to bring about a positive change in attitude and assumptions amongst employees and management towards mental health. It is an effective equal opportunities policy which should mitigate against stigmatisation on the grounds of mental health."
"An integral feature of the policy should be the need to emphasise to all employees the organisation's commitment to ensuring that people with mental heath problems are included within the scope of equal opportunity and diversity policies. Information on mental health issues should also be included in disability awareness training for managers, covering identifying and dealing with staff with mental health problems. Finally, to overcome fear of discrimination, it's important when recruiting potential employees to make it known that the organisation is willing to make reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants and that this policy includes people with a mental health problem."
