CIPD urges employers to tackle workplace causes of poor mental health

Employers should look beyond supporting employees once mental health problems emerge and take action to identify and reduce workplace factors that can contribute to poor mental health.

New guidance, published by the CIPD and Mind on 19 August, calls for organisations to take a preventative approach to workplace mental health, including assessing the risks posed by work-related stress and examining how people are managed day to day.

It comes as CIPD research shows a quarter of UK employees say work negatively affects their mental health.

The professional body said employers have a duty to protect workers from work-related factors affecting their mental health and should develop an organisational framework for managing risks from stress. This should include carrying out a stress risk assessment or audit.

The guidance also places significant responsibility on line management, warning that poor management can exacerbate or even cause poor mental health.

It identifies unrealistic expectations and deadlines, long working hours without adequate breaks, high-pressure environments, unmanageable workloads and a lack of control as potential workplace triggers.

Poor communication, negative working relationships, unsupportive workplace cultures, job insecurity and poor change management can also contribute to problems.

The CIPD and Mind said good line management is important for early intervention, while trust-based relationships can help create psychological safety and make employees more comfortable raising health or work concerns.

Senior leaders also have a role to play by creating inclusive and compassionate cultures and ensuring managers understand their responsibilities for employee wellbeing.

Managers should model healthier working practices themselves, according to the guidance, including working sensible hours, taking lunch breaks and annual leave and switching off outside working hours.

The guidance recommends regular conversations between managers and employees to identify changes in behaviour that could indicate stress or poor mental health. However, it stresses that managers should not attempt to diagnose employees and should instead encourage conversations about what support may be needed.

Early intervention could also help employees remain in work and prevent problems escalating into sickness absence.

The guidance points to the business case for taking a more proactive approach, including potential improvements in employee engagement, performance and loyalty, alongside reductions in the cost and management time associated with absence.

It also reminds employers of their responsibilities under health and safety legislation to assess the risk of stress-related poor mental health arising from work and take steps to control it.

For workplace health and wellbeing leaders, the guidance reinforces a broader shift towards prevention: mental health strategy should not only provide services for people experiencing difficulties, but examine whether job design, workload, management practices and workplace culture are contributing to those difficulties in the first place.