10:20am Thursday 10th December 2009
By Wellbeing At Work
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE for short) produced an interesting document for employers about how they can introduce well-being at work policies and practices to improve the mental health of employees and reduce unwanted costs such as absenteeism. The recommendations are commonsense and timely following a recent spate of reports and surveys about the subject from various very well meaning professional organisations. But the statistic which I still grapple with is the 1 in 4 people who have experienced mental illness or the 1 in 6 employees who may be suffering from mental distress right now! As my colleague Adrian points out in his last blog – behind these statistics are very real people.
Let’s be honest – real people like you and me ! I am increasingly surprised by the number of friends, relatives and colleagues who offer up stories of past experience of mental illness or reveal they are suffering right now. Whether it’s in emails, conversations or cards I have noticed people speaking out about their state of mind and that 1 in 4 statistic seems less and less remote. Even in a radio interview I took part in about the NICE report – the interviewer spoke of his past personal experience of depression 'live' on air. Should I be shocked at this openness and honesty ? Not at all. Mental health is now part of everyday conversation because there is less stigma and fear about the subject. Importantly, for some folk talking frankly can be part of the process of recovery and healing. People with mental health problems are looking for understanding not sympathy – for respect not special treatment. And for most part this costs absolutely nothing – zilch !
For many employers applying commonsense practices in the workplace – a thoughtful approach to staff well-being can be a small investment with large returns. Less absence, more motivated teams, more loyal staff – offering great service to happy customers. A NICE fantasy perhaps ? Then ask yourself - which sort of company do you want to do business with ? I will leave you with this thought.
Last month I went to renew my mobile phone contract – I asked for the same terms as the previous contract only to be told bluntly by the telephone sales assistant – “ Sorry. Those terms should not have been offered to you last time – the sales executive who gave them to you would have been penalised for that .” Penalised ? How NICE is that !
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