TUC: Good workplace practices can spot and resolve mental health issues

1 April 2015
The TUC has published a report concerning increasing pressures on workers’ mental health.

Good practice in workplace mental health says workers have been experiencing a significant increase in stress, which in some cases has led to mental ill health, as a result of the impact of austerity on their work and home lives.

TUC Disability policy officer Peter Purton said: “People with mental ill health continue to have amongst the lowest employment rates for disabled people according to the Labour Force Survey. The evidence suggests that mental ill health can be linked to workplace stress, which makes it particularly concerning that recent surveys have reported a rise in the incidence of stress at work.

“But the good news is that trade unions are finding ways to prevent mental health problems arising, or to work with employers to enable a person with a mental health condition to continue in work.”

The report identifies problems that may need to be addressed in a workplace, and measures that can be taken to make a workplace ‘mentally healthy’, including:

· training for union representatives and middle managers
· early referral to Occupational Health
· recognising gender aspects of mental health
· recognising the business case for positive mental health
· conducting stress risk assessments.