The estimated cost of mental ill-health to UK employers each year is between £33 billion and £42 billion, totalling around 91 million lost working days. About 10% of these losses were due to staff replacement costs, 30% down to people being off sick (absenteeism) and 60% of the cost due to reduced productivity at work (presenteeism).

Two-thirds of UK CEOs considered the mental health of their employees as a priority, but only 16% had a defined strategy in place to help them.

Many organisations are trying to address mental health in their workforce. Implementation of initiatives such as flexible working arrangements, mental health days, mindfulness sessions and mental health first aider training show that businesses are starting to understand the high cost of doing nothing.

A holistic approach means more than first aider training

Many organisations have invested in mental health first aider training. This two-day workshop trains individuals in the workplace to act as emergency contacts for individuals in crisis, as well as to be a source of knowledge, support and signposting for employees who are experiencing symptoms.

But a holistic approach to mental health and wellness in the workplace must be more than sending a handful of people to a workshop. When companies do health and safety training, it’s more than training a couple of first aiders. Health and safety training applies to everyone, so an entire workforce can know how to reduce accidents, keep themselves and others safe, and what to do in an emergency. The same must apply to mental health.

Why train?

It’s great to have a policy. Even better to test employee comprehension through a policy tracker. But after induction, it’s easy to lose the enthusiasm many new joiners have for understanding procedures.

That’s why regular staff training is a recommended piece of workplace infrastructure. From job-specific courses to GDPR, sexual harassment training to diversity courses, regular training is a tried and tested way to ensure staff understand how to comply with your policies.

Mental health and wellbeing training can help ensure employees are equipped to spot the signs of poor mental health in themselves and others, understand what support systems are in place, what their legal rights are, and most importantly, where and how to seek help.

A culture of silence around mental health helps no one. Widespread staff training can help shift the culture to one that’s open to talking and open to helping.

VinciWorks’ online mental health training

VinciWorks will soon be releasing a new mental health course designed to give users an understanding of some of the causes of stress at work, what can happen when it’s not dealt with and how employees and employers can help reduce unnecessary stress and improve wellbeing at work. Mental Health: Wellbeing at Work can be fully customised to enable employers to add relevant policies, procedures, links and information they want to communicate to their staff around mental health and wellbeing. Further, additional learning can automatically be added to the course for management staff.