Fenturi's mental health poll

Fenturi’s recent snap poll asked employees about support they are receiving in preparation for the return to the office and coming off furlough. Questions covered the clarity and regularity of communications, support on working from home, updates on health protocols, and help dealing with stress and anxiety. The clear majority (66%) of people are feeling anxious about the return to work, and the results help explain why mental health support is needed. 

An astonishing 60% said they are yet to receive any support from their employer on the issues they most care about. Of the remaining 40%, only 30% have received any health and safety updates, or had any advice about how working from home can form part of a more flexible return to work. Only 13% are having any dialogue about how to deal with stress and anxiety, the lowest scored area in the survey.

In a more recent report from the global advisory company’s Emerging trends in health care delivery report, published on the  20 April 2021, found 87% of employers are concerned about an increase in mental health problems among staff. Whilst this is a positive acknowledgement of a collective growing concern, these concerns need to change into actions. Employers need to provide staff with access mental health support.  

Back to our poll, unsurprisingly the top placed concern was job security with 59% of people saying they wanted greater transparency about business performance and the possible implications to their role. The same percent of people also want the flexibility to work from home as part of their coming back to work strategy. Close behind, about half of people polled asked for support with health and safety protocol updates, and an open dialogue about dealing with stress and anxiety. 

Of all the individual areas, mental health had the greatest disparity between what people need, and the support available. Only 13% of people feel their employer has opened a dialogue about dealing with stress and anxiety, but 45% said they need it to help with the transition.

Our report has established that there is an immediate need for better communication, with issues around anxiety and stress being neglected. Left unanswered, anxiety and stress only gets worse, resulting in increased absenteeism, presenteeism and a decline in productivity. Deloitte calculated before the pandemic that this was already costing the British economy £45bn per year.

Whilst there is a cost associated, the bigger cost is that of a moral one. Organisations need to adequately support their staff. Moving from showing concern to addressing the issue at hand. 

Talk to Fenturi today about creating a bespoke digital training course, to help engage and educate your employees about the issues raised in this report. The learning can be tailored to your exact specific objectives, and easily delivered to them wherever they are working from, via whatever digital platform you choose. To speak to us directly, you can call on 0117 440 1000, email at hello@fenturi.com or fill in the contact form below.