Guest blog by Mary Lawrence, partner and health and safety practice lead at international legal practice Osborne Clarke LLP
This week has been recognised in the UK as Mental Health Awareness Week and this year, the focus is on the important topic of stress. The Mental Health Foundation revealed this week that two thirds of people in the UK will experience a mental health problem within their lifetime – with stress being a key factor in this. In addition, the Mental Health Foundation’s new survey found that over the past year, almost three quarters (74%) of people have at some point felt so stressed that they were overwhelmed or unable to cope.
Of course, wellbeing in the workplace has been a hot topic for some time now; there has been less of a focus on stress-related issues. In short, stress is bad for business. Unhappy workers result in unproductive workers, and stressed employees are more likely to be absent from work. What’s more, businesses could not only face legal claims from employees but also find themselves being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive if it is believed that a company isn’t ensuring the ‘health’ as well as the ‘safety’ of an employee.
It is in the interest of every organisation to ensure the mental wellbeing of every employee is properly addressed, and Mental Health Awareness Week acts as a timely reminder to do just this. In the same way as businesses approach the physical safety of employees, it is important to look at their health risks.
The question is how should a business comply with its legal obligations in this area?
Firstly you should identify what the health risks in the business are – talking to employees, carrying out surveys, and involving your occupational health experts. Think about the seriousness of these risks on individual employees and the potential consequences. Then, look at how these risks can be reduced and prepare a document which sets out the risks, the consequences and puts in place a plan of what action the business can take to reduce the risks. Finally, act on that plan and update it as required. Remember you might not get it right first time – ask employees what they think and what is really working.
Many businesses have in place wellbeing programmes but are not necessarily linking the programme to health risks relevant in the business which need addressing. If a business has introduced exercise boot-camps, yoga classes or flexible working arrangements, think about whether this might address identified issues about muscular-skeletal problems, mental health challenges or obesity. If you don’t spend time identifying the risks, you may just be running a PR campaign with your wellbeing programme without actually having any real impact on positive health in your business.
As working practices continue to evolve and technology further encourages on ‘always-on’ culture, businesses need to address the stress problem now.
In the future, we may well see listed companies having to report H&S stats as part of the company’s sustainability rating – which many see as an important step in the right direction – because happy, healthy staff is good for business. Organisations need to be ready for this and managing worker health is a win-win.
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