How to talk to your staff about mental health

Leaders can no longer ignore the importance of discussing mental health within the workplace.

According to Mentalheath.org, one in six workers experience some form of mental health issue at work, whilst women are nearly twice as likely to have common mental health problems than men. In fact, a massive 12.7% of all sickness and work absences in the UK can be attributed to such conditions at the cost of £8billion to the economy each year. Yet, despite the presence of mental health issues being keenly felt amongst the workforce, the subject is still considered to be taboo.

But there are things you can do to champion better mental health, or even simply to aide those suffering from your leadership and therefore better support your teams.

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The first step is, unsurprisingly, to take away the stigma surrounding it as a talking point. This can be done by instilling open conversation at the heart of the business; ensure that mental health is talked about in the same manner as physical health. Ensuring that your staff know that mental illness will be taken seriously goes a long way.