New research suggests that over a third of businesses have reported that employee mental health support has got better since the start of the pandemic.
A recent survey conducted by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) who work with millions of employers and employees every year to improve workplace relationships, found that over a third of British employers have seen their mental health support improve since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Businesses were asked about whether they had seen a change to employee mental health and wellbeing support in their organisation:
- over a third (36%) said it had got better
- nearly 1 in 10 (9%) said it had got worse
- half (50%) reported it as staying the same
- 6% of employers did not know
Robert Candy, Chief Executive of the Scaffolding Association welcomed the findings. He said “Whilst the results from this survey are largely positive, there is much more work to do across all sectors to ensure employees can access the help and support they need on this really important issue.
The construction industry in particular, must be more proactive in tackling the huge problem it has with the lack of wellbeing support provided to its workforce. Poor mental health in the industry is exacerbated by requirements to work away from home, heavy workloads, long hours and job insecurity”.
A recent report published by the construction sector stated that seven in ten construction companies surveyed do not measure the mental wellbeing of their staff and Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that more than 2,000 construction workers took their own lives in the UK in the decade to 2017 which is more than four times the number of constructions workers killed whilst working during the same period.
For more information on this latest research from ACAS visit:
