The document emphasizes the importance of mental health awareness in the workplace, particularly within the construction industry, where a significant percentage of workers report mental health issues and a lack of support. It highlights the economic costs associated with poor mental health, calling for employers to adopt specific standards and create supportive environments to enhance employee well-being. The report underscores the role of company culture in attracting talent and improving productivity, while advocating for structured mental health support and awareness initiatives.

1. Mates in Mind aims
to raise awareness,
address the stigma of
poor mental health
and improve positive
mental wellbeing

2. Why should employers care about employees
having good mental health?
34% of respondent construction workers
experienced a mental health condition in
the last 12 months
73% felt their employers do not
recognise the early signs of mental health
problems
46% of all women responding said they
were dealing with poor mental health
conditions at that point
2/3 said that they do not feel there are
sufficient outlets to discuss mental health
conditions
Rate among low-skilled male construction
workers was 3.7 times above the national
average between 2011 and 2015
Rate among building finishing trades,
including plasterers, painters and
decorators, was twice the national
average between 2011 and 2015
In 2016/17, 40% of all work-related ill
health cases and 49% of all working days
lost due to ill health were related to stress,
depression or anxiety HSE (2017)
12.5 million working days lost due to
work-related stress, depression or anxiety in
2016/17 HSE (2017)
MSDs and mental health have a complex and
reciprocal relationship, each exacerbating, or
potentially causing, the other (Duffield et al.
2017)
1 in 6 in employment have a diagnosable
mental health condition Public Health
England (2015)
72% of people who completed suicide were
not known to a health professional
Samaritans (2016)
Randstad (2017)
A construction perspective…
ONS (2016) data on suicide rates

3. What is driving the number of working
days lost?
Affect Evidence
• Financial
concerns
• Work related
stress
• Unrealistic time
pressures (in
construction
appears to be
higher risks than
the average)
• Fatigue is a risk – 50% of
construction organisations
had employees reporting
higher than average fatigue
• Deciding to take a break is
positive - 4.6% on average
reported they cannot decide
when to take a break in
construction compared to an
8.1 average
• Space to rest – Only 6.5% of
construction against a survey
average of 29% had a place to
rest
(Rand Europe, 2016)
Symptoms
of poor
mental
health

4. The OECD estimates that mental ill-
health costs the UK around 4.5 per
cent of GDP in lost working days,
reduced productivity and higher
benefits spending (2015)
Centre for Mental Health (update on
figures first released in a 2007 report
compiled with the Sainsburys Centre):
• Costs to employers £34.9 billion in
that year
• Equivalent to ~£1,300 for every
employee in the UK workforce
• The figures hadn’t ‘changed’ beyond
inflationary rise in salaries.
Costing the impact of poor mental
health for employers

5. Presenteeism: Weighing it up as an
investment
• Report by Deloitte (2017) defined presenteeism as
working whilst ill (poor mental health) and working at
reduced productivity
• Mental-health related presenteeism costs employers up
to 3x the cost of mental-health related absence
• Presenteeism and absence are very closely linked;
though there is variance across sectors and size of
organisations
• ROI of workplace mental health interventions is
overwhelming positive – though it did range from 0.4:1 to
9:1
• Report suggested that there are opportunities for better
returns on interventions focusing on organisational
culture and proactive stages for employees enabled to
thrive rather than intervene at late stages.

6. Key recommendation from the Independent
Review into how employers can better support
employees remain in, and thrive at work (October 2017)
Six core standards included in series of
recommendations adopted by Government
1.Produce, implement and communicate a
Mental Health plan
2.Develop awareness
3.Encourage open conversations and
promote support available
4.Provide employees with good working
conditions
5.Promote effective people management
6.Routinely monitor employee Mental
Health & wellbeing.

7. Culture is a catalyst for creativity
The Economy of People report (May 2018, Ricoh & Oxford
Economics) found culture is a critical foundation for:
• Attracting and retaining staff and can minimise
disruption to the organisation and inspire better work
• Executives unanimously agree that strong company
culture remains critical to improving employee trust
(87%), motivation (83%) and well-being (69%) within
the organisation
• Commitment to ethical and sustainable business
practices is quickly rising as an essential component of
culture
• 71% of millennials & 73% Gen Z employees feel their
organisation’s approach to ethics and sustainability
positively affect their productivity and performance.

8. 8
Good
mental
health
Poor
mental
health
Negative mental
wellbeing
Positive mental
wellbeing
A person with a
diagnosed disorder,
that copes well.
A person with no
disorder, and has positive
mental wellbeing.
Someone with a
diagnosed disorder,
with poor mental
wellbeing.
A person with no
diagnosed illness or
disorder, but has poor
mental health.
Taken from Start the Conversation

9. Achieving wellbeing sustainably
Wellbeing is a state of
contentment, material
and emotional, at
a point in time – a
complex bundle of
factors (health,
fulfilment,
happiness...) many of
them psychosocial
Resilience is a
developable
characteristic - ability
and skills enabling an
individual to function
effectively, deal with ups
and downs, adapt to
change, bounce back
from adversity, learn
from failure

10. Sounds
expensive
Isn’t this what
the NHS is for?
Not MY job!
No one else
does it
Industry
machoism
Can’t we just
say we are
doing it?
Ignorance
Can we just
stick a poster
up?
Some of the barriers because it’s still taboo…

11. Mates in Mind supports creating,
communicating and delivering a complete,
joined-up approach to mental health to
bring about a safer environment at work…
Our four key pillars

12. By becoming a supporter of Mates
in Mind an employer
• … demonstrates their objective to raise awareness of poor
mental health by addressing the stigma and improving positive
mental wellbeing - visible to their staff, their supply chain and
to the wider industry.
• … helps challenge the taboo and lends their weight to bring
about wider change in a way that is about building
understanding, being inclusive and influential
• … reflects the reality of increasingly complex working
environments and continuous change
• … provides a framework for all organisations to take steps in a
consistent and coordinated manner.

13. Support through a subscription to access
benefits and shared resources
• Based on number of employees
• Benefits of the subscription relate to enabling and empowering
the organisation to drive the change from within
- Dedicated Programme Support: to help create, communicate and deliver a
complete approach
- Access a growing suite of printed, digital communications and campaign
materials
- Unlimited Technical Support:
- Creating/ updating stress + mental health policies & procedures;
- Help with monitoring employee mental health & wellbeing;
- Advice and guidance on legal obligations;
- Support to managers with staff experiencing a mental health problem, stay in/
return to work
- Access a range of awareness and educational materials
- Network with peers and others to share learning and understanding; including
trade and industry bodies to ensure consistency and efficient use of resources.

14. Important to reflect that it’s not just about providing
training to break a taboo!
Some of the factors that need to be considered:
• Support already in place within the organisation
• Current organisational context
• Awareness and alignment in existing policies
• Resources available
• Leadership and extent of engagement.
“Don’t worry, your people will tell you if you’ve been
successful or not!”
Awareness & education programme

15. Founding partners … with input and support through MH partners
Affiliate & supporting partners
Pilot phase: Partner organisations
Business champions
Working with partners to embed change

16. Working to support more than 120 employers …

17. Because of our business champions & supporters
others now speaking out
Galliford Try case study:
• Dovetailed with their current aims
• Included in the ‘Be Well’ wellbeing platform
• Met employee expectations
• … and it seemed obvious!

18. Measuring impact through partnership working
• 110+ employers supporting more than 80.0k of
their people
• More than 25.5k have received some mental health
awareness & training since rolling out last year
• Investing in SMEs: 200 managers & supervisors
received free training in April 2018
• One of our partners has seen a 65% increase in
inbound calls to their helpline in the last eight
months
• Building evidence:
• 60% of respondents had not received previously mental
health training
• 25% of respondents prior to training thought that
mental health and mental illness were the same
• On completing the training, nearly all felt confident that
they could explain what mental health is to another
person.
• Also found that respondents would seek support within
their organisation through various channels, but that
line managers play an important role.

19. By the end of 2018 British Safety Council will have
supported Mates in Mind with £250k in charitable
donations
Build it for your people, and your people will perform
David White, HS&S Group Director, Galliford Try
‘I must do something’ always solves more problems
than ‘Something must be done’
Adrian Shah-Cundy, CSR Director, VolkerWesselsUK

20. Be part of the action
www.matesinmind.org
T. 020 3510 5018
E. support@matesinmind.org
@matesinmind
www.linkedin.com/mates-in-mind
www.facebook.com/matesinmind