According to mental health charity Mind, poor mental health is now the number one reason for staff absence from UK workplaces. Surprising as that is, there’s more. Here are some other statistics from Mind’s research:
21% admitted to calling in sick to avoid work due to workplace stress
42% said they’d considered resigning and 14% had actually resigned due to workplace stress
30% said they didn’t feel able to talk openly with their line manager if they were feeling stressed
56% of employers said they would like to do more to improve staff wellbeing but lacked the necessary training or guidance
Not only is productivity being lost through increased levels of absence, businesses are also losing staff. Given the resource and expense that go into recruitment, those figures are quite worrying. If 42% of the carefully chosen, talented people working for UK businesses have considered leaving their jobs, that’s a significant risk to most UK businesses. For recruiters, who’s business relies on sourcing and retaining high quality contractors, the risk is arguably greater.
How mental health issues affect contractors
Contracting has many important advantages, and we speak to people every day who have changed their lives for the better by switching from conventional employment to working for themselves as contractors. However, the contracting life can leave some vulnerable to workplace stress.
Contractors often have no-one to talk to about their professional worries. Even if they’re not working alone, the need to present a positive, professional face to clients and their staff means they have no colleagues to confide in.
Contractors often stand or fall based on their own actions, their own talents and skills, and their ability to sell them. This is brilliant when it’s going well, but it’s a lot of pressure to deal with alone, and that can make it harder to manage workplace stress.
What Orange Genie are doing about it
Since mental health is a significant issue affecting contractors and recruiters, we wanted to do something meaningful about it. That meant raising awareness, as well as providing practical support to people experiencing workplace stress.
Mental health first aid
In order to safeguard the mental health of our employees, we sent four members of staff to be trained as Mental Health First Aiders by MHFA England. This equips them to provide initial support and signpost our employees to appropriate help as required.
We’re expanding this principle to contractors by training our Contractor Relationship Managers to spot signs of mental health issues or emotional distress.
Your contractors’ Health and Wellbeing
All our employees, including all the contractors we employ through our umbrella company, have, unlimited access to professionally qualified counsellors through a confidential helpline that’s available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
We provide a range of lifestyle tools aimed at helping contractors to maintain and improve their general health and wellbeing. There’s a well- established link between leading an active, healthy lifestyle and good mental health.
If you’re not with us yet and have questions about this issue, or if we can help in any way, please contact our expert team on 01296 468 483 or email info@orangegenie.com.