Poor workplace mental health costs the UK £56bn a year – communication and feedback are central to wellbeing.
All is not well in the workplace. It feels like every week a new survey is released to back it up and the statistics are, quite frankly, alarming. In an attempt to prevent a “lost generation” of young employees, the Resolution Foundation think tank, funded by charity The Health Foundation, has now called for cross-party government action. This latest intervention comes after a report found that record numbers of young people are out of work because of poor mental health.
Yet it’s not just 20-somethings dealing with a toxic work culture that is causing concern. In a recent survey, 61 per cent of UK employees said they left a job or planned to leave in the next 12 months because of poor mental health.
Another survey showed that 28 per cent of UK sick days are due to employee mental health. Costing the UK a staggering £56 billion every year, it is a lose-lose situation for employers and employees alike.
So what’s going on? “We have a hidden, systematic skills gap in our organisations – the inability to share and hear the truth,” says Sue Ingram, a communications consultant and HR professional. “The lack of considered objective feedback is ruining people’s lives every day in our workplaces.
“The younger generation want the truth, they want integrity, they want to believe in something that is true and fair. But they are going into work places where the reality and the ‘vision statement’ do not align and this leads to confusion and causes a toxic atmosphere.”
Communication and constructive feedback should be a priority
We’re not taught the skill of communicating well and truthfully, she says. “It’s the age-old mistake – that we promote people who are good at their jobs but have never been taught how to give feedback.
“When we don’t learn this skill, avoid telling the truth and can’t give constructive feedback, it creates an environment of distrust and that has devastating consequences not only on people’s wellbeing but also on the company’s bottom line.”
Truth-telling is not only good for employees, it is good for business too. Recent research by Gallup shows employees working within a culture of trust have 106 per cent more energy at work with 13 per cent less sick days. The research also showed that companies with high trust levels outperformed companies with low trust levels by a staggering 186 per cent.
However, it is not about one individual suddenly starting to be radically honest with their boss and colleagues, says Ingram. “This will more than likely just get you sacked. It’s more about creating a culture at work where giving honest feedback and questioning not just colleagues but the management is actively encouraged,” she adds.
She defines a truth-telling culture as the freedom of being able to say what’s on your mind – your concerns and worries – without any fear of reprisal or attack. She says you know you have a healthy culture if a junior person in the company can tell a senior member of the company when something has a flaw or is not working effectively.
However, when people are afraid to tell the truth, it creates an environment of distrust. Distrust not only creates an unhappy, unhealthy workforce but also “low productivity and burnout”, she says, adding: “Burnt-out workers are less productive and more likely to resign, which increases turnover and recruitment costs.” A YouGov poll in January for Mental Health UK reveals that one in five workers are now at risk of burnout.
Sticking plaster initiatives are not the answer
Often companies will deal with the symptoms of struggling employees by launching a “wellbeing week” when most of the staff are stressed to the max working crazy long hours because a project has not been set up in a sustainable way, says Ingram.
“When management is not open to hearing feedback, then wellbeing programmes can feel like a sticking plaster because real problems and challenges within the business are not being addressed,” says Ingram.
“You can’t fix what can’t be named. Truth will out in the end and if you don’t encourage an environment of truth and trust, then the boss will only get told about problems when it’s in crisis mode, you won’t be able to deliver the project and everyone loses”.
Jane Thompson
Administration/Development Assistant, CWC