May 26th, 2020
3 mins
Last week we encouraged employers within the industry to reflect on the labour force survey from 2018/19 for mental health awareness week. The survey reported 602,000 workers suffering from work related stress, depression and anxiety (new and long-standing cases) and also 12.8 million working days lost, these statistics being published before COVID-19 crisis existed.
The office for national statistics now reports around 86% of adults in England, Wales and Scotland have felt either stressed, anxious or worried about their future or that their mental health had become worse in light of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Another survey completed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists involving 1300 mental health clinicians revealed a 43% increase in urgent and emergency mental health cases since the end of March. But nearly half surveyed had also seen routine appointments cancelled thought to be due to people being too fearful to seek help.
With the possibility of many individuals returning to the workplace and still experiencing mental health problems due to the lockdown, we have found the below guidance from the Chartered Institute of Personal Development (CIPD) which could help, this outlines considerations and provides advice for employers, people professionals and people managers on how employee mental health can be supported.
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/culture/well-being/supporting-mental-health-workplace-return
