Mental health in Construction

There is a compelling argument for investing in employees’ mental health and overall wellbeing.

Healthy staff are usually happier and more productive. For employers, this can lead to reduced sickness absence, less risky behaviour, and a more engaged workforce. For individual employees, it can result in a more supportive work environment, better health, and increased job satisfaction.

It can also help you to reduce and manage your people risk. Healthy workers are more likely to be focussed and therefore make fewer mistakes and ensure that projects are carried out to time.

For many businesses, looking after the mental wellbeing of their workforce is becoming an increasingly important priority. And when you consider that the estimated cost of poor mental health to UK employers stands at between £33 billion & £42 billion a year, it’s not hard to see why.

The construction industry faces bigger challenges than some others in this respect. The latest statistics reveal that male site workers in construction are three times more likely to commit suicide than the average UK male and much higher than the number of workers who die by fall. In addition, a recent survey highlighted that 34% of construction workers had experienced a mental health condition in the last 12 months and 73% felt that their employers do not recognise the early signs of mental health problems.

What is the driving force behind the poor mental health of construction workers?

The lifestyle of those working in the sector can be challenging and stressful. Many work long and demanding hours to meet project deadlines and requirements, and can often be away from home for significant periods of time.

In addition, for some the transient nature of construction work can cause tension and financial anxiety as workers look to line up their next job. This type of lack of routine can cause feelings of isolation.

The industry also has a predominantly male workforce and research has shown that not only are men far less likely than women to seek professional support, they are also less likely to disclose a mental health problem to friends and family.

What can businesses in the sector do?

The sector knows that it needs to do more to tackle poor mental health and bring about positive change. One important industry initiative is Mates in Mind. Established by the Health in Construction Leadership Group (HCLG) with the support of the British Safety Council in September 2016, Mates in Mind aims to provide clear information to employers on available support and guidance on mental health and how they can address this within their organisations.

Many companies are now looking to address employee mental wellbeing, and are starting to introduce defined strategies to fully embed good practice and support within their culture. Helping organisations to identify their key areas for improvement, our employee wellbeing wheel illustrated below highlights the many cultural, environmental and individual factors that play into the health of a workforce.

Taking a defined, evidence-based, data-led approach to your wellbeing strategy means that you can make the most efficient use of budgets, and also make the most impact by understanding the risk profile of your employees from their demographic profile through to any health and wellbeing data and information you already hold. You can then measure the success of your programme, and evolve your strategy as you move forward.

Ideally, a wellbeing programme should incorporate a mixture of:

• organisational initiatives aimed at creating an authentic culture and environment that clearly supports individuals’ health and wellbeing, and
• employee facing initiatives, products and benefits that empower employees to positively take control of their own wellbeing.

The culture of a company matters and is the foundation of any successful mental wellbeing programme, and managers and leaders play a key role in this. For most employees, the relationship with their manager is a major factor in their wellbeing, and also how likely they are to be open about any concerns. Supporting managers/project managers in the development of awareness, skills and the confidence needed to manage mental health within the workplace should be a major component of any strategy.

Creating a framework for your approach to mental wellbeing, combined with upskilling line/project managers should help mitigate the risk of inconsistent approaches and varied employee experiences across the business. This should help get people the right support at the right time as well as reducing the stigma in talking about mental health.

For employee facing initiatives, it’s important to remember that we all have mental health and it will fluctuate over time and that it is also intrinsically linked to physical health and good practices around other aspects such as sleep, alcohol, nutrition and exercise. Support services to help people flourish should, therefore, help people develop a good understanding of their own mental wellbeing, what helps them manage that on a day to day basis, and then providing a higher level of support when people need it.

Written by Anna Spendor