Mental Health Week | TSB's HRD shares tips on employee support

This week marks the return of the annual Mental Health Awareness Week, which runs from the 18^th to the 24^th of May. Now more than ever, HR should be looking to the mental health of its employees, given the additional mental toll that the current coronavirus pandemic is having on remote workforces.

The impact of COVID-19 on mental health is evidenced by the stats. Research from Mentalhealth.org revealed that, with the latest news confirming 50,000 more redundancies due to the impact of the virus, each ten per cent increase in the number of unemployed men was significantly associated with a 1.4% increase in male suicides. One-fifth of people surveyed who identified as unemployed have had suicidal thoughts and feelings in the last two weeks – this is compared to 8.64% of people in employment.

Additionally, the report found that one in five individuals within the UK are currently suffering from the anxiety of potentially losing their jobs, whilst one-quarter of the workforce currently said that they are struggling to cope mentally with the threat of the virus. These stats demonstrate the true extent of the issue and mean that HR should be doing everything possible to support struggling employees.

To mark the significance of Mental Health Awareness Week, TSB’s HR Director Liz Ashford shared some of the initiatives that the banking firm has put in place to support employee mental health.