Good mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness. It means you are in a state of wellbeing where you feel good and function well in the world. According to the World Health Organisation, good mental health is when you can: "Cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively, realise your potential and contribute to the community"

Research from Deloitte found that the cost of poor mental health to employers increased from £45bn in 2019, to £56bn in 2020-21. According to the Mental Health Foundation, one in six employees experience mental ill health each year.

Anyone can be affected by mental health regardless of age, profession or employment status. It can affect people at different stages of their lives and certain events may have an impact on our mental wellbeing in the same way it might have on our physical health. Just as with our physical health, it is important for us to get help as soon as possible to get better. Work can be a protective factor for mental health, but it can also contribute to worsening mental health.

Stress affects people differently – what stresses one person may not affect another. Factors including skills and experience, age or disability may all affect whether a person can cope. Employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by minimising the risk of stress-related illness or injury to employees. Employees also have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and of others who may be affected by their actions.

Mental health issues and workplace stress can affect an individual’s:
  • Capacity to work productively
  • Memory
  • Self-esteem and confidence
  • Concentration and focus
  • Ability to learn
  • Attendance at work
  • Ability to make effective decisions
  • Low mood
  • Being irritable or short tempered
  • Being tearful
  • Being tired
  • Avoiding social events
The effects on your business could be:
  • High absenteeism
  • High turnover
  • Poor time keeping
  • Poor performance and productivity
  • Low morale
  • Poor motivation
  • Increased employee complaints
  • Increased ill-health, accidents and incidents reports

Poor mental health can be considered a disability even if someone does not experience symptoms all the time. For example, if an employee appears not to experience symptoms due to their medication, this does not mean they would not be classified as having a disability.

Never underestimate the power of reaching out and starting the conversation on stress and mental health at work. Having the right support at work can make all the difference to someone’s life.

Consider developing an approach to mental health at work that protects and improves mental health for everyone. This may include:
  • Consider having a formal mental health and wellbeing strategy or policy in place
  • Creating a healthy work culture where talking about mental health is a natural, neutral and everyday occurrence
  • Acting as an advocate, role modelling positive mental health working practices
  • Being open to talking to colleagues about the importance of mental health and tackling mental health stigma
  • Using staff surveys and other research to build data about staff mental health, using findings to plan and deliver action and inform workplace policies
  • Using confidential one to one meetings to find out how a person is feeling and the support they need
  • Consider undertaking a Stress risk assessment and a Wellness Action Plan
  • Consider supportive reasonable adjustments
  • Engaging staff with regular team meetings and development opportunities
  • Recognise that any change process is a challenge for staff mental health and include employee wellbeing in your plans
  • Providing opportunities for managers and staff to access relevant mental health and wellbeing training – building mental health awareness and helping employees better understand their own mental health and how to spot the signs of poor mental health in colleagues
  • Signposting colleagues to available professional support
  • Providing employees with good working conditions and ensure they have a healthy work life balance and opportunities for development

Visit support with employee health and disability. This online advice service has been developed on GOV.UK  for employers and managers to help you support employees and understand any legal requirements. There are links to government and other organisations that can help.

The guidance will help you with:
  • Managing absences and keeping in touch
  • Having conversations with your employee, in and out of work
  • Deciding on changes to help them stay or come back to work

Often, simple changes to an employee’s working arrangements or responsibilities can make a big difference, for example, allowing the employee more rest breaks, offering them more flexibility to work at home, temporarily reducing their hours and/or providing additional support to the employee each day to help manage their workload.

Valuing mental health and wellbeing as core assets of your organisation will:
  • Provide a good return on investment
  • Improve productivity, innovation, efficiency and morale
  • Improve staff health and wellbeing enabling them to make the most of their potential
  • Improve job satisfaction and strengthen workplace relationships
  • Decrease absenteeism and presentism (being at work but not performing to usual standards)
  • Result in happier, more fulfilled employees who feel able to bring their full selves to work
  • Enhance organisational reputation in the marketplace
  • Honour the duty of care towards your workers
  • Save costs on legal and regulatory challenges

Positively managing mental health underpins good employee engagement and benefits everyone – employees, employers and the bottom line. If you support your employees’ mental wellbeing, then levels of engagement will rise and so will staff morale, loyalty, innovation, productivity and profits.

The total annual cost of poor mental health to employers has increased by 25% since 2019, costing UK employers up to £56 billion a year. According to Deloitte, every £1 spent on mental health support = £5.30 saving in reduced absence, presenteeism, and staff turnover.

Support

Always suggest a person contacts their GP if they have any concerns regarding their health
  • Access to Work – is a Government scheme to help you get or stay in work if you have a physical or mental health condition or disability. The support you get will depend on your needs. Through Access to Work, you can apply for:
    • a grant to help pay for practical support with your work
    • support with managing your mental health at work
    • money to pay for communication support at job interviews
  • Able Futures Mental Health Support Service – provides support to the people working and living with mental health difficulties, employers and providers of apprenticeships. It is a nationwide specialist partnership set up to provide the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. Employers can access this service at no cost
  • Case UK – delivers the Able Futures services across Wales and South West England. Employees can use this link to access the service. By letting your employees know about the nine months mental health support that Able Futures provides at no cost to them, you can support mental wellbeing at work
  • Disability Confident employer scheme – GOV.UK  – being Disability Confident is a unique opportunity to lead the way in your community, and you might just discover someone your business cannot do without. It was developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives to make it rigorous but easily accessible, particularly for smaller businesses
  • People in crisis with mental health problems can now access services through NHS 111 (option 2 for mental health) in England, giving them another way to get urgent help. The number connects to a local team of call handlers with mental health training, alongside nurses and clinicians who are available around the clock
  • Second Step  – offers a range of community mental health support services for people aged 16+ who live in Wiltshire or who are registered with a Wiltshire GP. Refer yourself online or call 03002 225745
  •  Talking Therapies – provide services to help you manage a range of common mental health problems including anxiety, stress, depression and low mood. They offer individual, and group psychological therapies and match the difficulties you are experiencing with evidence-based treatments. Self-help information is also available
  • Wiltshire Mind – are an independent charity supporting people in Wiltshire who are experiencing mental health problems or emotional distress. Including access to counselling, peer support groups and mental health training for organisations and individuals
  • Help Counselling Services – a charity offering low-cost Counselling in the West Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset areas
  • We Hear You – are a charity that provides FREE counselling across Wiltshire and beyond for patients, families, friends, and carers (all ages) who have been affected or bereaved by cancer or any other life threatening condition, including Covid
  • Health Coaches – will work with you to improve your health and make positive lifestyle changes. Your coach can assist you every step of the way to achieve and maintain your goals. The service is free and available for adults aged 18 and over
  • SHOUT service is a free, anonymous 24/7 mental health text messaging service which will not appear on your bill. Text the word SHOUT to 85258 to be connected with a trained volunteer who aim to support individuals to a calm and safe place

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Resources

  • MECC Link – is an online signposting tool available to everyone in B&NES, Swindon and Wiltshire to help find out where support can be accessed for health and wellbeing
  • Mind – Mental Health at Work  – offer a range of free resources that can help you to take care of your staff and look after their mental health at work
  • CIPD and mental health charity Mind have jointly developed the Supporting Mental Health at Work: guide for people managers. It contains information, practical advice and conversation checklists for managers to better support those experiencing stress and mental health issues
  • The Mental Health Foundation have created this guide How to support mental health at work. It contains information and advice for managers and individuals on how to manage your own mental health at work and make your workplace more mentally healthy for everyone
  • The Health and Safety Executive (HSE ) Advice for managers on mental ill health conditions and information and resources relating to Work-related stress and how to manage it includes an example stress policy.
  • Working Minds Campaign – has been created by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and partners, it brings together a range of tools and support to help businesses and workers understand the best ways to prevent work related stress and encourage good mental health
  • ACAS: Reasonable adjustments for mental health – contains guidance and examples for supporting mental health at work. Also see ACAS: Supporting mental health at work and ACAS: Causes and signs of stress: Managing work-related stress which provides advice on recognising the causes, understanding the law, supporting employees and preventing work-related stress
  • Every Mind Matters – from the NHS provides expert advice and practical tips to help you look after your mental health.  Get your free mind plan, a personalised action plan, with tips to deal with stress and anxiety, boost your mood, sleep better and feel more in control and learn about self-help CBT techniques and more
  • Mind Your Head – YellowWellies.org – Resources and advice for anyone working in Agriculture including mental health and a wide range of health and safety topics
  • Reading Well – Wiltshire Libraries have focused reading lists of books (physical and on-line) to help with specific issues such as stress, anxiety and depression available for free. The books on the Reading Well lists have been recommended by health professionals to help people to understand and manage their health and wellbeing using self-help reading
  • The free Midlife MOT website – encourages people to review their skills and brings together trusted services to help you start thinking about your work, health and money with future planning in mind
  • Wiltshire Together – a free community platform that connects people, charities, community groups and organisations in Wiltshire to their community. You can search for local events, volunteering opportunities, and nearby support (including mental health support)

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Toolkits

  • Access to Work Mental Health Support Service Employer Toolkit – the UK Government Department for Work and Pensions has developed a free employer toolkit for the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service.  Here you will find a collection of resources to help you and your teams with depression, anxiety, stress and other mental health conditions affecting work
  • Business in the Community – Mental Health for Employers Toolkit – Business in the Community (BITC) has partnered with Public Health England to produce a toolkit to help every organisation support the mental health and wellbeing of its employees. It will help employers take positive actions to build a culture that champions good mental health and provides a greater understanding of how to help those who need more support also see Business in the Community (BITC) for a series of toolkits for employers supporting all aspects of health and wellbeing of their staff
  • Talking Toolkit – from the Health and Safety Executive can help structure conversations with workers and potential recruits
  • Mind UK – How to support your mental health when working from home – use this Wellness Action Plan (WAP) tool to support your staff to work safely from home
  • ACAS Stress at work toolkit – has advice, assets and resources to help you manage work-related stress

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Learning and Development

  • Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is about making the most of every opportunity you have with the people you come into contact with. MECC is a reflective skills-based free training opportunity that encourages a different way of interacting to address health and wellbeing issues. Course and booking information can be found at MECC-training-dates-2025-July-Nov-002.jpg
  • Wiltshire Training – provided by Wiltshire Council offers a wide variety of workplace health courses designed to meet your needs with bespoke training programmes also available. View the Wiltshire Training brochure
  • Preventing suicide is often possible and you are a key player in its prevention. Zero Suicide Alliance provide free online training to build the skills and confidence to have a potentially life-saving conversation
  • Workplace Wellbeing – Wiltshire Wildlife Trust – offer workplace wellbeing workshops to support a happier, healthier and more productive workforce, whatever the size of your business
  • To help employers prevent stress and support good mental health, a free interactive tool has been developed that brings HSE’s Working Minds – Work Right to keep Britain safe campaign principles to life. The bitesize online learning is made up of 6 short modules that guide you step by step, with helpful tools and practical resources. Register to get started here HSE Workplace Stress (focusgames.com)

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