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Well Issue 3: Autumn/Winter 2003/04
NHS Health Scotland
Research for Working Life
In September 2001, the NHS Health Scotland (formerly HEBS) workplace programme convened a steering group to develop a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing mental well-being in Scottish workplaces and to establish how best to move this agenda forward.
This multi-agency group identified that considerable ambiguity surrounds the mental health field and, as a result, few organisations in Scotland appeared to be confidently addressing these aspects of work in the same way that they address physical health. This was despite the wealth of information that is currently available to workplaces on issues of mental well-being, mental illness and stress.
Guided by this group, NHS Health Scotland, in conjunction with the Scottish Executive's National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being, commissioned research with employers to explore the availability of information on mental well-being at work and their perceptions of barriers to participation in this area.
Carried out by the Keil Centre, the research identified that Scottish employers perceive there to be:
considerable ambiguity in the information available on mental health, mental illness and stress
a difficulty with presenting the business case
a lack of evidence on what works in organisations and the need for objective measures to track effectiveness
the need for practical guidance, and information on how actions relating to mental health affect business performance.
Based on these findings, the steering group identified the need for two further pieces of work. First, in order to fully understand mental well-being and mental illness at work, it was deemed important to have an understanding of employees' perspectives and needs in addition to that of employers. Secondly, to meet the needs of employers as identified in the previous research, work to develop the business case for addressing mental well-being and mental illness was also progressed.
THE EMPLOYEES' PERSPECTIVE
NHS Health Scotland and the National Programme commissioned research to explore Scottish employees' perspectives. The research gathered information on the experiences of employees of mental well-being and mental illness at work and what they would like employers to do to improve these experiences. The research was carried out with two groups: employees with, and without, experience of mental health problems/mental illness at work.
Recommendations produced from the research included:-
making the case to employers for attending to mental well-being and mental illness at work using a business-oriented model, supported through better co-ordination and communication of this message via bodies that work with employers.
recognising and supporting the role of managers in mental well-being and mental illness in the workplace through skill development as part of a whole organisational approach.
promoting job retention through stronger local and national employer networks that share knowledge and offer advice to employers.
extending the remit of reward schemes more widely to increase the status of accreditation for attention to mental well-being and mental illness in the workplace.
providing supports and resources for employers through provision of examples of good practice to indicate the range of actions that employers are already undertaking to contribute to mental well-being and mental illness in the workplace.
tackling stigma and negative attitudes to mental illness in the workplace.
the need for future research to address the lack of commitment of mainstream employers and employees to participate in the mental well-being and mental illness debate.
THE BUSINESS CASE
The steering group acknowledged that there is currently a significant amount of information available in the literature that can contribute to the business case along with various examples of effective interventions. It was agreed therefore that the best way forward was to provide a synthesis of the literature, bringing together up-to-date information on issues related to the business case including key examples of effective interventions and that this should be produced in one concise and compelling resource, giving employers support and encouragement to take action. This work is currently in progress with contributions being drawn from experts in the field.
NEXT STEPS
The findings from the research are now being used to inform a range of actions and activities required to address mental well-being and mental illness at work in Scotland.
Key actions to be progressed include:
activity to raise awareness of mental illness and mental well-being in the workplace
collating and building on mental health workplace training in Scotland
providing advice to the National Programme as required for the development of guidance, briefings and policy documents
Miriam O'Connor,
NHS Health Scotland Workplace Programme
Tel: 0131 536 5522
www.hebs.com/research
Employers Advice Line
0800 019 2211
www.hebs.com/safeandhealthyworking
From HEBS and PHIS to NHS Health Scotland |
NHS Health Scotland was established in April 2003 to create a national focus for health improvement, bringing together the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS) and the Public Health Institute for Scotland (PHIS). The integrated organisation has the following remit: to deliver health improvement programmes at national level to the wide range of stakeholders involved in delivering the health improvement agenda including the wider community to employ knowledge about health and its determinants in a way that will influence policy and practice within Scotland.
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CASE STUDY
Mentally healthy working life in Standard Life
Standard Life rightly believes that the key to having a successful business is investing in the health and welfare of its people. A Gold Award Winner in 2002 from Scotland's Health At Work (SHAW), Standard Life employs over 11,000 people in the UK, 8,000 of whom are based in the 22 buildings in and around Edinburgh.
The manager of the Occupational Health Unit is Andrew Moore, who carried out an audit of employees' health issues three years ago:
"We discovered that the majority of health issues were related to mental health and this is something that we've had to take extremely seriously. 45% of issues were due to stress, depression or anxiety, compared with 30% relating to muscular or skeletal disorders.
"We now have a number of initiatives in place including an Employee Assistance Programme where employees can receive up to six 'solution-focused' counselling sessions per problem per year, in addition to access to mental health services via a private health scheme."
A graduated Return to Work Scheme and a robust Attendance Management Programme are also in place and if an employee is off sick for more than four weeks in any one year, they are referred to the occupational health department for consultation, advice and support.
"We have a team of four Occupational Health Nursing Advisors, some of whom have trained as registered Mental Health Nurses, so staff can also make a self-referral to OH to discuss any mental health or stress issue."
The Synergy-on-site massage is also proving very popular when staff can book a 25 minute, fully-clothed head-and-neck massage during their lunch break which, says Andrew, has been proved to reduce blood pressure and ultimately improve productivity.
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