The responses revealed a worrying trajectory, with nearly half of respondents (48.6%) saying Covid-19 has made work more stressful, and a shocking 12.3% saying work is always stressful.
We spoke to Emma Mamo, head of workplace wellbeing at mental health charity Mind, about the effect that stress can have and how managers can help prevent it.
Many respondents in our 2022 survey mentioned disrupted sleep as a main symptom of their work-related stress, and worries about Covid. What impact can disrupted sleep and sleepless nights have on a person’s long-term health?
There’s a strong relationship between our sleep and our mental health – having poor mental health can affect your sleep, and not sleeping well can negatively impact your mental health. Sleep deprivation can lead to problems with punctuality and decision-making and may affect your mood too, potentially increasing irritability and frustration, particularly if you find yourself making more mistakes than usual. Sleeping too much can also be a sign of poor mental health and can result in feeling lethargic and lacking in energy.
If you notice changes to your thoughts, feelings and behaviours – which could include sleep – that last longer than two weeks, keep returning, or affecting your daily life, you may have a mental health problem. Speak to your GP, who can talk you through support available.
Mental health problems affect everyone differently, but there are some common signs to look out for. If you’re experiencing an anxiety disorder, you may find it difficult to get to sleep or get enough sleep, particularly if you experience physical symptoms too, such as grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw. Someone with depression may sleep a lot and stay in bed longer. Some mental health problems, like bipolar disorder, can cause huge variations in our energy levels, meaning we might be able to function well – or at least perceive ourselves to be functioning well – on little or no sleep during ‘manic’ phases, and need a lot more sleep when our mood becomes much lower.
Mind has lots of information and tips on our website, including about mental health and sleep, and work.
The findings show that stress is still at very high levels amongst engineers. How important is it that managers take proactive steps to prevent stress before it occurs (ie. by managing workloads, ensuring appropriate staffing levels)?
We know that issues like stress, anxiety and depression are common in all workplaces, even before the pandemic. We also know that the pandemic and the current cost of living increase continue to take a huge toll on the nation’s mental health. Within the workplace, employees have been concerned about things like job security, redundancy and debt. In 2020/21, we surveyed over 40,000 staff working across 114 organisations taking part in Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing Index. Two in five (41%) told us their mental health had worsened during the pandemic. Over one in two (52%) told us that their work life interfered with their home life during the pandemic and one in three (34%) said the pandemic had made them more concerned about their job security.
Commonly-cited causes of stress and poor mental health at work include things like long working hours, heavy workload, unrealistic targets and deadlines, low pay and difficult relationships with managers, other colleagues and customers. Although stress is not a mental health problem itself, excessive unmanageable stress can lead to mental health problems developing or worsening. What is a source of stress for one person may not be for another, so it’s really important managers work with their line reports to identify that member of staff’s individual causes of stress and poor mental health, and what can be done to mitigate it or nip it in the bud.
Wellness Action Plans are a useful tool and are available free from our website. Jointly drawn up by managers and staff, they help facilitate conversations about mental health, identify unique triggers for poor mental health and what helps people stay well.
As well as being the responsible thing to do, employers (including managers and HR professionals) have a legal duty to protect the mental health of their staff. Some mental health problems meet the definition of a disability under the Equality Act 2010 and therefore require employers to put in place reasonable adjustments to support their employees, and employers also have obligations under the Health and Safety Act.
There is a business case too. Recent research by Deloitte UK has found that employers see a return of £5.30 on average for every £1 invested in workplace wellbeing initiatives, through increased staff morale, productivity and retention, ie. happier, healthier staff less likely to need to take time off sick or leave altogether.
Many respondents said that the Covid-19 pandemic has made conversations about mental health and stress more open. Do you expect this to have a positive impact in the long run?
Awareness and understanding surrounding mental health have never been greater. Many of us have seen a worsening of our own or other’s mental health as a result of the pandemic. Employers are also increasingly recognising the need to invest in the wellbeing of their staff, which is welcome, but long overdue.
Small measures – such as generous annual leave, flexible working hours, subsidised exercise classes or gym membership and access to confidential 24-hour support through an employee assistance programme (EAP) – can all make a big difference. Employers also need to make sure they are regularly surveying staff to identify and tackle the work-related causes of poor mental health, and make sure any initiatives they implement are appropriate, effective, well-advertised and easy to access.
Research from Deloitte UK has shown that increasingly staff entering the workforce need and expect mental health to be high on their employer’s agenda, and for some this is more important than traditional incentives like salary. We’ve also recently seen ‘the great resignation’ – with many employees using the pandemic as an opportunity to re-evaluate what they want and need from their employers and careers.
Employees also easily see through tokenism and temporary measures, so employers must make a genuine, long-term commitment to creating a mentally healthy culture. A mentally healthy workplace is one where all staff – including disabled employees and those with mental health problems – feel able to talk about their mental health and know that if they do, they will be met with support and understanding, rather than facing stigma and discrimination. We all – but especially UK government and employers – have a role to play in helping close the disability employment gap.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.