‘Blue Monday’ falls on January 19 this year.
Whilst there are significant questions about the accuracy of being labelled in 2005 by a psychologist as ‘the most depressing day of the year’, it has become a day to discuss mental health and raise
awareness about mental health issues.
Mental health is behind over half of the 22 million working days that were lost to work-related ill health in 2024/2025 and so it is important employers look to protect employee well-being by being proactive and inclusive in their approach.
Liam Kenealy, director of employment law at Wake Smith Solicitors, looks at the benefits and ways of implementing a healthy workplace.
The benefits of such an approach can include:
- Increased performance
- Lower levels of absence
- Improved retention of staff
- Compliance with legal duties
It is easy for employers to say they promote a healthy workplace and have a culture encouraging employees to speak up, but is harder to implement.
Simple ways of doing this could be:
- Having a mental health policy and making sure staff and managers are aware of it and how to implement it – one tip could be to involve staff in its creation
- Conducting risk assessments around mental health – what risks are posed in the workplace by mental health? Workloads, lack of breaks, targets/pressure
- Encouraging conversations between colleagues – a simple ‘is everything ok?’ or ‘are you ok?’ could be enough
- Train managers so they can recognise signs of employees struggling with mental health and know how to respond – the initial response by a line manager can be the difference between an employee taking time off and feeling supported enough that they can remain in work
- Offer Employee Assistance Programmes – they can include 24/7 helplines, resources such as videos or articles, and financial advice
- Encourage people to take breaks – we all know those employees who work through their lunch
Liam added: “Mental well-being continues to grow in importance to employees with better work/life balance and feeling that their mental health is a priority for their employers increasingly being seen as key factors in recruitment and retention.
“It will be those employers who can demonstrate their commitment to the issue that will be seen as the more attractive businesses to work with and for.”
Your next move?
If you want assistance on any employee issues in your workplace, contact the employment team at Wake Smith to discuss your options.
Our team can support employers by reviewing job architectures and advising on operational changes to maintain both well-being, compliance and competitiveness. We also help organisations communicate pay changes transparently to reduce employee relations challenges.
Call Wake Smith Solicitors on 0114 266 6660.
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