World Mental Health Day: employees don’t believe employers’ warm words

The vast majority of UK employees simply do not believe their bosses when they talk about what they are doing to support mental health and wellbeing, a study has found.

The research by HR and payroll consultancy MHR has concluded nearly eight out of 10 employees (79%) do not believe their employers when they promote mental health initiatives.

Examples of this ‘mental health washing’ (where public messaging is at odds with the reality on the ground) include the finding that 19% of FTSE 100 firms post on social media about mental health during awareness days – such as today’s World Mental Health Day (10 October) – yet do not do so again for the rest of the year.

Amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis this year, where the majority of UK adults (65%) say their mental health has been affected by their financial situation, employers too often are still failing to get basics right, such as making sure payroll runs correctly. This has exacerbated an already difficult situation for many, MHR found.

Nearly half (46%) of the employees polled said they had missed bill payments because of payroll inaccuracies by their employer, which had a knock-on effect on their mental health and wellbeing.

Jeanette Wheeler, chief HR officer at MHR, said: “This research is quite shocking – in today’s day and age, it simply shouldn’t be the case that employees feel as though mental health offerings are not authentic.

“Employers who are not seen as proactive and genuine in dealing with this crisis will suffer long-term consequences as employees vote with their feet and look elsewhere for those who are.

“Businesses also need to acknowledge the impact sloppy internal processes – such as inaccurate payroll – can have on the wellbeing of its workforce. The rising cost of living is placing a huge strain on employee finances, which is naturally impacting mental health. Employees should be able to expect to be paid accurately and on time to mitigate these financial stresses,” he added.

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