1 October

MQ Mental Health Research marks World Mental Health Day

To mark World Mental Health Day, The Lord Mayor’s Appeal charity partner MQ Mental Health Research will host a webinar What Works in the Workplace? on 10 October.

Part of a series of that MQ will deliver in partnership with the University of York focusing on 'what works in the workplace', the upcoming webinar will be led by Professor Simon Gilbody.

The Professor of Psychological Medicine & Psychiatric Epidemiology at the University of York and Director of the Behavioural Theraputics Lab will also speak our upcoming This is Me 'Creating a Connected Workplace: Reducing Loneliness' event on the 8 October.

Looking at the impact that our place of work have on our mental health, MQ’s webinar on 10 October aligns with the World Mental Health Day theme of prioritizing mental health in the workplace.

According to Tsuyoshi Akiyama, President of the World Federation for Mental Health: 

“Employed adults spend more time working than any other activity during their waking hours. In a myriad ways, and at its best, work can provide a livelihood and be a source of meaning, purpose, and joy. However, for too many people, work falls far short of its potential, failing to enhance our lives and detracting from our mental health and well-being in ways that result in excessive distress and mental ill health.”

To help find the answer to ‘what works’, MQ Mental Health Research shared some of the statistics about mental health in the workplace. These include the fact that 35% of adults in the UK experienced high or extreme levels of pressure and stress always or often in the last year and 1in4 UK employees are at risk of burnout. They also found that Work-related stress and burnout costs the UK economy £28bn a year.

Research from MQ shows that the biggest contributing factors to good workplace mental health are:

• Manageable workloads
• Good person-job-fit
• Acceptable emotional loads
• Growth opportunities

In research carried out by MQ Mental Health Research, Peopleful and the Work Well Institute at Northwest University, it was found that large numbers of people, from across different sectors, are struggling with their mental health, showing signs of burnout or experiencing stress-related ill-health. 

For employees, having robust systems in place to spot and effectively manage workers who are experiencing stress is important.

MQ identified signs of stress in others as including irritability or being quick to anger, withdrawal and not engaging with others, difficulty concentrating or hyper-fixation on workload and unhealthy coping strategies (such as alcohol abuse).

They identified signs of stress in ourselves as feelings of being overwhelmed or an inability to cope, physical symptoms such as headaches, muscle tension or stomach upset, increased anxiety or irritability, trouble sleeping or feeling tired all the time and changes in appetite or eating habits.

They also found that half of workers say their employers do not have a plan to spot signs of chronic stress or prevent burnout.

Sign up for MQ Mental Health’s What Works in the Workplace webinar here

Sign up for This is Me Creating a Connected Workplace: Reducing Loneliness event on the 8 October here

Find out more about The Lord Mayor’s Appeal partnership with MQ Mental Health here