In a recent survey, 95 percent of office workers said their physical work environment is important for their wellbeing and mental health. However, half believe their current working environment does not have a positive effect on their mental health, wellbeing, mood and productivity. The issue of employee wellbeing has risen up business’ agendas in recent years, and, as part of the drive for better mental health support for workers, companies are looking at ways in which the physical workplace can improve the mental health of their employees.
There is significant psychological evidence of the benefits of a mixed working environment and agile working is set to become even more popular; a recent study found that flexible working spaces could grow by up to 30% annually for the next five years across Europe. It is clear, then, that there is a growing awareness of the impact of workplace design on employee performance, and firms can capitalise on this trend to sell their services or products by putting the mental health of the end user at the forefront of their designs.
The cost of poor employee wellbeing
It is now more important than ever for companies to address the issue of employee mental health. You just have to look at the figures to see why – the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that 15.4 million working days were lost in 2017/8 due to stress while the Thriving at Work report found that mental ill-health costs employers up to £42 billion per year. What’s more, the overall cost to the British economy amounts to a staggering £99 billion. Therefore, it is in the employer’s best interests to take employee mental health seriously, not only to improve workers’ wellbeing but also the bottom line.
The high costs of poor employee mental health can be attributed to a number of factors, the most significant of which being staff retention, productivity, sickness and absenteeism. Findings from Wrike revealed that work stress has led to nearly half of UK workers to look for a new job, while it’s estimated that 300,000 people lose their job each year as a direct consequence of mental health problems. Furthermore, absence due to mental health reasons has risen by around 5% in the last ten years. It is fast becoming a nationwide problem and employers need to address the problem now. Those that fail to promote employee wellbeing will inevitably face the economic consequences in the long-term, as these statistics show.
Risk assessment as a tool for improving employee wellbeing
There are also the legal considerations that organisations must address. Employers have a duty to ensure the health of employees is protected and this is an issue that regulatory authorities and HSE have at the top of their agenda. For example, in 2016 HSE launched Helping Great Britain Work Well, a new health and safety system strategy to tackle workplace ill-health that includes resources and guides for organisations.
One vital element of a business health and safety policy that many firms lack is a comprehensive risk assessment. This is best practice for all businesses with more than five employees and should address factors such as buildings and technology, including working space and screen usage for example, both of which can have negative and positive impact on mental health as well as physical health. Once the risks have been assessed, companies must identify the controls needed to manage such risks. In many cases, this is where workplace design is overlooked, but it must be considered by all businesses when considering how to minimise risks to employee wellbeing.