Only 1/3 of Mental Health Sufferers Supported By Employers

A nationwide study has found that as many as six percent of British workers who opened up about mental health issues to their boss believe they lost their job over it. 

Today (October 10) is World Mental Health Day, an international campaign to educate and raise awareness of mental health issues. However, stigma remains a huge problem as a staggering 67 percent of Brits say they have suffered mental health issues that affected them at work – but only 34 percent of those felt supported by their employers.

Shockingly, the research also found that more than half of senior managers in the UK admit that they consider a worker who is mentally unwell a liability, with 65 percent saying they thought talking about mental health at work was a sign of weakness.

Little wonder then that 52 percent of Britain’s workforce believe that managers and bosses are not sympathetic to people who suffer from mental health issues. 

And more than 2/3 of workers believe that if they told their boss they were suffering from some kind of mental health issue it would have a negative impact on their job. 

In fact the majority of Brits have pretended to have had a physical ailment to take sick leave when in reality they were suffering mentally. 

Nearly four in ten who did this did it to hide their symptoms, while over a third worried about it might reflect badly on them if they were honest about the situation.

And many of those who suffer have not told anyone at work about their mental health struggles as they did not want people to think they were weak or couldn’t cope.

The study, by TalkOut, an organisation created to remove the stigma surrounding mental health within the workplace, also found that when workers do open up about their mental health problems the consequences can sometimes be dire. As well as the five percent who believe they were dismissed as a result, 15 percent of people who spoke honestly about their problems felt like they were effectively sidelined, nine percent felt like they were never trusted again, while six percent claim to have been effectively demoted. 

Nearly half (45 percent) of the 2,000 workers surveyed said they’d seen someone pushed out of their job because of their mental health issues. 

Well over a third of employees (37 percent) have had to take time off, but on their return, 14 percent said co-workers stopped talking to them, 13 percent got into arguments with colleagues and nine percent suspected they had become the subject of jokes.

So, it’s no shock that 69 percent of Brits would feel deeply uncomfortable broaching the issue with their employer. 

And an overwhelming 93 percent of respondents believe management should be trained in dealing with mental health issues. 

This is reflected by senior managers themselves, with almost two thirds (64 percent) reporting that they did not have enough resources to support employees with mental health issues, and 53 percent saying they did not have procedures in place to help staff who were suffering from mental healthproblems.

Jill Mead, Co-Founder and Managing Director of TalkOut, comments: “The findings from our research are a real cause for concern and clearly demonstrate that not enough is being done to reduce the long-standing stigma and discrimination around mental health within the workplace. 

“If we’re going to make any progress, mental health needs to stop being seen as a taboo, particularly in professional environments and there needs to be an understanding and acknowledgement that people with these issues can often thrive at work with the right support.

In fact, work itself can play a factor in poor mental health, with 78 percent of workers saying that they have felt anxious or depressed because of their job. 

37 percent put this down to having a heavy workload, 34percent said it was because of an unhealthy atmosphere, and 29 percent blamed poor management. 

Almost a quarter (25 percent) put it down to too much pressure to hit targets, while 14 percent felt bullied by their boss.