As employee mental health experts, we are always keen to promote the benefits of supporting good employee mental health.
World Mental Health Day is fast approaching. This year, the theme is young people and mental health in a changing world.
In this blog we look at the pressures faced by our younger colleagues and discuss why we should be supporting their overall mental health.
Why You Should Embrace World Mental Health Day
Whilst the focus this year is young people, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the day.
According to the ONS, there are 3.85 million young people (aged 18-24) in the UK workforce in 2018.
This means the likelihood of you having young people in your business are high.
Young people are truly an asset to many businesses. Generally speaking, young people are enthusiastic, eager to impress, ambitious, and uncynical. The fact they are recently educated, too, means their skills are fresh. This can lead to more creative problem solving, dynamism, and greater productivity.
Let’s not forget that these young people entering your workforce could be with you for many years.
And with 75% of mental health problems being established by the age of 24, it makes sense to future proof your workforce and business by supporting employee mental health now, especially in young people.
What Are The Mental Struggles Faced By Young People?
It is so easy to blame social media for all the world’s problems, but it this instance, it definitely needs to take some of the blame.
Social media is fantastic for raising awareness of minority groups and plights or allowing cultures to be shared. Plus, with 24-hour news, real or fake, popping up on timelines across platforms it is easy to know what is going on in the world.
This younger generation is more socially and globally aware than any previous generation.
Which is fantastic, but as this article in the Huffington Post explains, studies show that regular exposure to negative news can increase anxiety.
Young people are also more insecure than ever before, as social media stars and celebrities bombard young people with a certain aesthetic, more so than previous generations.
The constant bombardment of visual and auditory stimulation is now revealing itself to be detrimental to mental health.
To compound this pressure, there are fewer opportunities open to young people now than there were a generation ago. A shortage of jobs, uncertain markets, reduced public spending, and a boom in higher education have all made the labour and housing market very competitive and more difficult to enter.
The pressures on young people are unprecedented, and, of course, the reality is they don’t just affect 18-24-year olds.
It is little wonder that 1 in 4 of us will experience mental health problems in any given year, according to the Mental Health Foundation.
The Impact of Poor Employee Mental Health
Obviously, the real cost of mental health issues is non-monetary and is the suffering felt by us and employees.
But there is a tangible cost to the UK economy that can be measured on reported mental health cases.
Mental health problems cost the UK economy an around £70-£100 billion every year, according to the 2013 Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer.
30% of this cost is attributed to lost productivity. That is £300 billion lost out of the UK economy every year because of mental health issues. And that is just the ones that are reported.
There are 5.7 million private sector businesses in the UK. That means that, on average, each business in the UK is losing over £5,000 every year to poor employee mental health.
Time off sick, reduction in motivation or ability to handle a workload, and feeling unable to remain in a role means productivity is seriously reduced.
It is a problem that can creep in before you know you have it, but is very difficult to reverse once you do.
It is worth your while to take employee mental health seriously.
Supporting Good Employee Mental Health at Work
Supporting positive employee mental health isn’t as tough as you might think. There are some very simple steps you and your HR department can make to ensure your staff are looking after their own wellbeing and have the platform to say when things aren’t ok.
We go into it more in this article on supporting good mental health at work with some practical advice.
In a nutshell, there are 5 very easy steps you can take to achieve this.
Small changes to the culture and environment of your workplace can make a huge difference in improving productivity, reducing absences, and bringing your best team to work.
A Tailored Corporate Wellness Solution
Here at Wellspace, we have a variety of tools at your disposal to help make those small changes, from wellbeing awareness technology in the form of our innovative app, to mental resilience training.
We work with you to tailor a solution that suits your business. You can even subscribe to the pilot scheme for free in 2018! Have a look here for more information on our Corporate Wellness Programme pilot.
Get in touch with us on info@yourwellspace.com or contact us here and a member of our team will get back to you shortly.
