More employees seeking mental health support
According to employee benefits provider Unum, which supports ill or injured employees in their recovery and safe return to work, 2018 saw more people using its return to work support for mental health issues than any other condition.
Indeed, 39 per cent of all cases were related to mental health issues, including stress and anxiety. In 2018, Unum also paid more than £42 million to Group Income Protection claimants experiencing mental health conditions.
Unum’s data also shows that a growing number of these employees have been able to return to work after receiving support from the Unum team via its mental health pathway (this figure rose from 70 per cent in 2017 to 74 per cent in 2018). The mental health pathway was created to support employers in maintaining mental health in the workplace and provide access to specific intervention when an employee needs help.
It highlighted the importance of employers supporting the mental wellbeing of their employees, with 15 per cent of people at work having symptoms of an existing mental health condition.
Dr Syed Zakir Abbas, Chief Medical Officer at Unum, discussed the reason behind the growth in employees using the provider’s services and explained the importance of employees being afforded access to such resources: “Decreasing stigma around mental health problems and better understanding of the benefits of early support could be contributing to more employees using our services – particularly younger men – which is a positive development. Having access to early intervention resources for employees suffering mental ill-health can be key to supporting recovery. We developed our Mental Health Pathway last year to better support employers in maintaining mental health in the workplace and to provide access to specific intervention when an employee needs help.”