Ahead of World Mental Health Day next week (10th October), new research has found that one in four employees have experienced suicidal thoughts at work.
The findings also show that more than a fifth (21%) of employees do not feel comfortable enough to talk to their employer about possible struggles with mental health.
'While fire drills and marshals are common practice for workplaces, and fire action signs having been a legal requirement since 2007, the UK, unlike many other countries, does not monitor, investigate, regulate, or legally recognise work-related suicides,' notes suicide prevention charity Ripple.
A person is 62 times more likely to die from suicide (one in 88) than in a fire (one in 5,447). Therefore, the organisation is calling on legislators and workplaces to make suicide prevention mandatory and entrenched into their existing health and safety policies.
Mental health in the workplace is a momentous issue and should be a priority for businesses across the country
The research also found that around a quarter of employees (23%) don’t benefit from any mental health policies in their workplace, and almost two fifths (38%) feel that their workplace mental health policies could be better. A further fifth of employees (20%) see their workplace mental health policies as a tick-box exercise.
Aaron Willis, star of BBC’s The Apprentice and founder of Vulcan Security and an ambassador for Ripple, said: 'Mental health in the workplace is a momentous issue and should be a priority for businesses across the country.
'Not only is it a health risk to individuals, but it’s having an impact on the business also, with poor mental health cited as a factor that impacts productivity for one in five employees, contributing to costly levels of presenteeism.'
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