What if your job was good for you?

Mental health at work: Building Back Responsibly

Recording of BITC webinar 31 March with Jonathan Gawthrop, EMCOR, Maxine Long, National Grid, Nuzhat Ali, PHE link to the recording

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a radical rethink in how we do things.

It’s acted as a powerful catalyst and an accelerator which literally overnight, has transformed the way we work.

Practices beneficial to wellbeing, such as flexible working from home, that were previously deemed impossible to implement, have suddenly become the norm for many. 

The agility with which employers have responded to the pandemic to transform where, when and how we work, now provides us with a unique opportunity: to use this experience to Build Back Responsibly. 

The pandemic has brought mental health and wellbeing to the fore, elevating it to the top of the agenda for CEO’s and their boards.

We are at a unique moment in history and employers have a once in a lifetime opportunity to pause and reflect as to how we transform ways of working at scale that ensure long term mental health outcomes and UK success.

We believe that wellbeing and sustainable ways of working are the engine of business as a force for good in society. 

Businesses now have the opportunity to harness the innovation brought about by the crisis to tackle challenges facing society.

Business in the Community’s Building Back Responsibly campaign is based on the notion that the responsible business movement can and must do better. 

From the insights and lessons from our members in response to the pandemic, we have identified priority areas that present opportunities for responsible business to act.

Our priorities for wellbeing:

•  Elevate mental health and safety on a par with physical health and safety, using the six standards set out in the Mental Health at Work Commitment as a framework for action.

Although awareness of mental health has risen, there is a lack of parity between physical health and mental health and safety.

When we are at work, we don’t expect to be physically injured and nor should we expect our mental health be negatively impacted.

However, the reality is that BITC’s Mental Health at Work 2020 YouGov research, in partnership with Bupa, highlights that 41% of employees have experienced poor mental health caused by work in the past year, with pressure, workload and having to work overtime, the biggest drivers.

 The Mental Health at Work Commitment forms the spine of our wellbeing campaign.

It’s a simple evidence-based framework which is underpinned by 6 Standards from the Thriving at Work independent review of mental health and employers. It provides an overarching structure for all other pledges and standards that are already out there. We believe the Mental Health at Work Commitment, and the standards which underpin it, are a roadmap to achieving better mental health outcomes for employees. It’s a set of actions that any organisation can follow to improve and support the mental health of their people.

• Adopt ways of working that promote long-term mental health, building on the new ways of working since lessons learnt from COVID-19.

Avoid employee burn-out by recognising pressure and workload are the biggest drivers of work-related poor mental health.

This priority supports what was regarded as the most challenging of the 6 Standards that underpin the Mental Health at Work Commitment - Standard 2: Proactively ensure work design and organisational culture drive positive mental health outcomes.

Since the pandemic, many employees and organisations feel under excessive pressure to cope with the stresses of working life. The risk of burnout for many employees is a reality.

For example, last month, there was extensive media coverage that that, on average, first year analysts at Goldman Sachs are working over 95 hours per week, sleeping only 5 hours per night and reporting that the stresses of work have been detrimental to both their physical and mental health. They fed back that if working conditions don’t change, most of them are unlikely to stay.

This needs to be addressed but we don’t have all the answers right now.

 We have an opportunity to leverage this heightened awareness to make this the beginning of an era of new ways of working that enhance mental health and wellbeing and a cultural shift in the UK.

Business in the Community is producing an evidence based white paper for launch at the end of June in collaboration with our members, the Thriving at Work Leadership Team Council which includes national organisations, Mind, CIPD, Society of Occupational Health.

 The paper will identify and outline evidence-based actions in direct support of implementing Standard 2 of the Mental Health at Work Commitment: Proactively ensure work design and organisational culture drive positive mental health outcomes.

The white paper will not be an end in itself.

 It will be a vehicle to inspire and drive bigger, better and faster employer actions

Transformation will be led by a collaborative movement convened by Business in the Community.

 We will support and challenge employers across the UK to adopt ways of working that drive long-term positive mental health outcomes. 

We will build on best practice learned since the pandemic and produce practical resources, to support action at scale by all employers.

Our ambition is to create cultures of trust and belonging, where everyone feels safe to speak up and be actively listened to - where psychological safety is positioned on a par with operational health, which should be the one of the same.

Imagine the impact of happier, healthier and more engaged employees on UK success in terms of competitiveness, and both the business and social benefits?