On his mission to tackle the negative stigma surrounding mental health, Prince William recently unveiled the Mental Health at Work project in partnership with the charity Mind. In an effort to address pressing workplace mental health issues, this initiative is designed to provide employers with improved access to tools and materials required to better support staff.
Although awareness and understanding of mental illness has undoubtedly grown over the past few years, there is still much to be done to address the unnecessary stigmas and negative connotations linked to mental health – particularly within the workplace.
Sadly, mental ill-health continues to be a significant cause of workplace absence. In fact, the 2018 CIPD Wellbeing at Work survey revealed that more than a fifth of organisations cited mental illness as the primary cause of long-term absenteeism. The Prime Minister’s 2017 independent ‘Thriving at Work’ report also shed much-needed light on the issue when it revealed that every year, a staggering 300,000 people lose their jobs due to mental health problems.
Although it feels somewhat insensitive to link these figures to economic productivity, the fact remains that left unaddressed, workplace ill-health will continue to cost the UK economy up to £99 billion every year.
