Who Is Experiencing The Most Work-Related Stress In The UK?
We can’t stop the stress any more than we can stop the pandemic, but we can work towards supporting employees to cope better by being prepared. These 2021 findings show that a certain demographic is more likely to experience work-related stress in the UK daily; those aged 45-54.
Work stress is the most common type of stress experienced in the UK. Organisational factors, including working conditions, workload, interpersonal support, and even workplace leadership and management, affect employees’ stress, and exhaustion levels. Even for those of us who enjoy our careers and get along with our bosses – or are our own bosses – work pressures can take a toll on our health, making it difficult to switch off and leave it all behind at the end of the working day.
We know that one in six workers is experiencing depression, stress, or anxiety right now. But according to a recent Mind survey, most managers don’t feel they have had enough training or guidance to support them:
‘Over half of managers (56 per cent) said they would like to do more to improve staff mental wellbeing, but they needed more training and/or guidance, and 46 per cent said they would like to do more, but it is not a priority in their organisation.’
As careers advance, employees are likely to find more value in their work through meaningful interactions with their colleagues and mentoring roles with younger co-workers. Feeling respected and treated fairly is important to all age groups, but not having such support has a greater impact on older employees. When these elements were lacking in their job, older participants reported much higher stress levels.
It is evident that employees have different needs across their lifespans.
How can managers support employees’ mental health?
The term ‘Occupational Health’ is widely used in the workforce to describe employee safety, but it includes more than safety. It encompasses both the physical and mental well-being of employees. As leaders in mental health support for businesses, Onebright is dedicated to providing managers with the tools to develop a greater awareness and understanding of their employees’ mental health in the workplace. Our enriching occupational mental health programs can help build a clearer picture of how stressors may interfere with employees’ capacity to engage effectively with work and fully utilise their physical and mental resources.
NICE and Public Health England have recently released guidelines on Mental Wellbeing at Work and how you can start an inclusive and diverse conversation about the right conditions to support all ages, genders and nationalities in the workplace.
The outline gives examples from mental health experts, employers and professionals on creating the right conditions to support mental well-being at work through an environment and culture of participation, equality, safety, and fairness in the workplace based on open communication.
Why is mental health training for managers important?
Managers who undergo training to raise their awareness of mental health issues in their employees should consider programs that include the following:
- Information about well-being, mental health symptoms and conditions
- Reduces the stigma associated with poor mental health and how to tackle it
- How to identify early warning signs of poor mental wellbeing
- How to have a conversation about mental health and well-being with an employee
- Accessible resources on mental health and wellbeing
- Ongoing monitoring of mental well-being in the workplace.
Onebright’s Chief Medical Officer, Gabrielle Pendlebury, discusses the importance of mental health training for managers:
“Employers must pay attention to the needs of their employees if they are to retain them and continue to benefit from the wealth of skills and experience these individuals bring. Among other things, this means supporting the mental health needs of everyone.”
Learn more about mental health training
If you want to learn more about reducing stress at work and how your organisation can contribute towards lowering work-related stress in the UK, head to our training page to learn more about mental health training for managers or browse any of our training modules, ranging from COVID-19 anxiety to resilience and mindfulness.
