Workplace wellbeing at the heart of business

There’s no denying that workplace wellbeing is in the spotlight more than ever – and quite rightly so. It’s been debated by Government, it’s been a key focus for charities including Mind, and it’s been a priority in many workplaces. That includes here at BPA Quality.

It is particularly topical as today (22 May) sees Mental Health Awareness Week get underway.

So many of us would not think twice to pick up the phone and take a day off work when suffering with the flu. Yet, we may be more reluctant to do the same when our mental health is not in a fit state to perform well in work that day. Concern or fear over judgement may prevent people from looking after their workplace wellbeing.

Present and correct

Even if you do show up to work when struggling with poor mental health, your mind is likely to be elsewhere. This just leads to ‘presenteeism’- being physically in work but not mentally engaged with the task at hand. A survey by CIPD found that 4/5 of respondents had seen presenteeism in their workplace in the last year. In addition, a quarter of respondents also said that they had noticed an increase in this issue over the last 12 months.

Sitting at your desk and pretending everything is OK is not the right way to treat a mental health issue. Poor mental health costs UK employers between £33 billion and £42 billion every year. This adds up to an annual cost to the UK economy of between £74 billion and £99 billion. It also won’t deal with the cause of the issue and help the person to get better, either.

According to Mind, at least one in six workers are likely to experience a mental health condition. Our modern lifestyles can place a huge strain on us. Work is one of the main reasons we may experience high stress levels of. In fact, work is a bigger cause of stress than debt or financial problems.

Time to change workplace wellbeing

So, what can we do about it?

At BPA Quality, we refuse to brush mental health under the carpet. In fact, we believe that mental health is just as important as physical health and should be treated accordingly with respect and dignity.

We work hard to remove the taboo around mental health. We look after our teams in-house to support wellbeing in the workplace. This ensures that we get the best out of our teams with help and support on hand when it is needed to cover all aspects of their role with the organisation.

That’s why we have Mental Health Champions throughout the organisation who meet monthly to share stories and offer support to others. We were recently interviewed by the BBC about our steps towards promoting positive mental health in the workplace. Watch the feature here.

We also always encourage, educate and inform our staff on how to support positive mental health. We provide training, practical tips and changes which are easy to implement in the office, at home or in their leisure time. It isn’t about changing a HR policy and producing a new 50-page document. It’s about making a difference in the day to day lives of our most valuable asset – our employees.

Think positive

There’s a long way to go to ensure mental health and physical health are treated in the same way in the workplace. Although more and more employers are paying attention to this issue leading to increased awareness, greater acceptance is still needed. This will go a long way to tackle the problem and make sure we’re happy and healthy both inside of work and out.

At BPA Quality, our teams are focused, engaged and perfectly poised to ensure the quality assurance of your customer service function. Contact us here.

Join us on FacebookTwitter or LinkedIn to take part in the conversation.