Following the release of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) annual figures for Great Britain, the Managing Director of Mates in Mind urges employers to ensure that they are investing in their people rather than paying lip service to addressing mental health. This comes as the HSE reports the number of cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety (new or longstanding) in 2018/19 has remained at 600,000 cases – the same as reported for 2017/18.

The HSE has stated that in 2018/19 stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 44% of all work-related ill health cases and 54% of all working days lost due to ill health.

The report highlights that the total number of working days lost due to this condition in 2018/19 was 12.8 million days, equating to an average of 21.2 days lost per case. James Rudoni, Managing Director of Mates in Mind said: “This latest report by the HSE further reinforces the importance of our charity’s aims to drive change across UK workplaces and immediately support employers to improve the mental health of their workforces. It is evident, acknowledging the rates of lost working days, that the sustainability and productivity of our businesses are being impacted by mental ill-health."

Within the HSE report, respondents cited workload pressures, including tight deadlines, too much responsibility and a lack of managerial support as the main factors causing work-related stress, depression or anxiety. Other factors included: a lack of managerial support, organisational changes at work, violence and role uncertainty (lack of clarity about job role and uncertain of what to do).