November 20, 2018The open letter was organised by Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England and specifically calls on ministers to amend health and safety legislation to put mental and physical first aid on an equal footing.
It has been signed by leaders and chief executives from PwC, WH Smith and Thames Water, among others.
Statistics recently released by the Health and Safety Executive show 15.4 million working days were lost last year due to work-related stress, depression and anxiety.
And according to figures published by the NHS, one in six people of working age will experience mental ill health, including depression, anxiety or stress.
“Today’s open letter shows that business leaders clearly recognise the need to support their employees’ mental health in the same way they do their physical health,” said MHFA England Chief Operating Officer, Fionuala Bonnar.
“The change in legislation we are calling for will establish a baseline for protecting mental health in the workplace, ensuring no one is left behind.
“This is just one part of improving approaches to workplace mental health, but it represents an important step forward,” added Ms Bonnar.
One of the letter’s signatories, WH Smith Chief Executive, Stephen Clarke, added: “Every one of our 14,000 employees has access to mental health support and we are proud to have the same number of mental health first aiders across our business, as we do physical health first aiders.
“We are calling for this legislative change, alongside many other leading employers, as we firmly believe that everyone should have access to first-aid support for their mental health, regardless of where they work.”
In September, Prince William and MIND launched a new Mental Health at Work website, which brings together information, advice, resources and training that employers can use to improve wellbeing and give employees the mental health support they need.
The open letter can be read in full here.
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It is great that business is slowly waking up to fact that fact that they way they make people work is having an impact on mental health. Though as the health and safety at work etc act already covers, health and welfare as well as safety I have always let directors know this means mental health and wellbeing as much as falls from height, crushing, exposure to asbestos, noise and vibrations etc.