Mental health wellbeing: Is it part of your company culture?

Kathryn Pulham encourages operators and business leaders to examine their approach to mental health wellbeing in the year ahead

Is the coach and bus industry as fully invested into its staff wellbeing as it should be?

That was the question posed by Financial Director at Pulham and Sons Kathryn Pulham during the Confederation of Passenger Transport session on the Impact of COVID on People and Culture, part of the UK Bus and Coach Conference on Wednesday (13 January).

She urges operators to ask themselves if they are doing enough to support staff mental health, particularly as the unknown toll of the global pandemic leaves its impact in the year ahead.

Some operators have allocated resources and have demonstrated clear direction when it comes to supporting mental health in the workplace, Ms Pulham says – but for some operators, especially in the coach sector, independent businesses face a different set of challenges.

She uses her own experiences to suggest ways operators might tackle the cost of mental health.

The cost of mental illness

“Good mental health results in better productivity, a reliable workforce, more valuable contributions to a business, and better colleague relationships,” Ms Pulham explains. “As employers we have a duty of care to our staff in everything we do. There is a huge amount of research which shows mental illness affects productivity, sickness absence and staff turnover.”

According to the Scottish Association for Mental Health, in 2006 the social and economic cost of mental health problems in Scotland alone came to £8.5bn a year – that’s more than the entire NHS budget in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the overall cost to UK employers each year is approximately £42bn, or £1,300 for every UK employee. Those sums come from sickness, resource to cover absence, return to work interviews and the ongoing cost of recruitment. Pulham’s says it has demonstrated a marked improvement in staff retention and recruitment since initiating an extensive mental health and wellbeing package alongside a “clear culture of looking after people, caring about how they are, and how they feel”. Kathryn warns the figures above might be grossly underestimated given the events of the global pandemic: “In 2016 one in three people in the UK workforce had a formal mental health diagnosis,” she says. “Those figures are really alarming and we can’t be fooled into thinking those individuals are now well, or that they will never experience that mental illness again if they are well now.”

For the last three years, Ms Pulham has headed up a youth mental health charity called HeadSpace. It recognises mental health as being a scale, with most people suffering from anxiety, low mood, depression, and some conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Last year Pulham’s did a survey looking into mental health among its own staff and turned up some “alarming figures”. 40% of respondents reported anxiety, depression or another issue. “That’s 28 people in a staff of just over 100, excluding ones who did not respond, so it could be higher,” Ms Pulham says. “Only 24% of those affected had sought advice, such as from a GP or healthcare professional.”

Ms Pulham says the combined evidence points to difficulties for those suffering with mental health problems to access help – which is not unique to any industry. Talking about mental health is tricky, she says, and opening up the discussion begins by reassuring people that it’s OK to talk about how they feel.

“Sometimes it’s not as simple as telling an employee to ‘man up’,” she says. “Unless you have experienced mental health, it’s a difficult thing to understand. Asking someone to ‘man up’ is like asking someone to stop being hungry.”

A national mental health survey conducted by Business in the Community found staff are worried they will be judged and excluded if they talk about mental health – with only 60% feeling like their line manager is concerned for their wellbeing. This could point to a lack of mental health training for line managers, according to Ms Pulham.

Start by listening

A mental health programme starts by listening, Ms Pulham says. “That means no advice, no judgment, no jumping in. Ask how you can help. People will forget what you say, but will remember how you make them feel.”

Pulham’s has developed an employee assistance programme that gives access to free face-to-face or telephone counselling, financial and legal advice, and access to practical guidance for other issues.

Ms Pulham is keen to stress that the onus is not on operators to solve employee problems, but to provide an open and safe space so that mental health issues can be discovered and referred to the relevant professionals. Talking about mental health needs to become part of company culture, and that means staff should be brought this information, not expected to find it or be forced to ask for it. An example might be a newsletter with the names of mental health first aid providers, alongside contact details.

“It’s really important that everyone has a role to play,” says Ms Pulham. “It’s down to business owners and directors to lead by example and keep mental health on the agenda. This is an approach rather than a goal, and needs to become part of what operators do.”

Considering the link between physical fitness and mental health, healthy eating habits, awareness of the dangers of smoking and the contribution of social media to unhappiness are all things for operators to consider. Ms Pulham urges business owners to use NHS resources to look at ways to improve employee wellbeing – and ensure mental health is part of their planning in the year ahead.