WORKING THROUGH MENTAL ILLNESS
T HE proportion of working people with mental health conditions has more than doubled in the past five years.
In 2012, some 3 per cent of working women aged between 16-64 self-identified as having a mental health condition - a figure that rocketed to 6.7 per cent by 2017, new figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed.
In real numbers, that’s a jump from 402,000 women in 2012 to 986,000 in 2017 - and it’s a similar story for men.
Some 1.8 per cent of men - or 273,000 - had a mental health condition in 2012. Five years later that had risen to 3.5 per cent, or 565,000 men.
The sales and customer service industry had the highest proportion of women reporting a mental health condition (8.7 per cent) while for men it was the care and leisure industry (6.5 per cent).
In real numbers the care and leisure industry saw the most women reporting a mental health condition, with 185,000 doing so. It was closely ahead of the 184,000 in professional occupations, which are jobs requiring a degree or equivalent qualification, such as lawyers or doctors.
More men working in professional occupations reported they had a mental health condition than any other sector (97,000). There were a further 95,000 men working in associate professional occupations who also said they had a mental health condition. The jobs with the lowest proportion of both working men (2.4 per cent) and women (four per cent) with mental health conditions were managers, directors, or senior officials. Emma Mamo, head of workplace wellbeing at Mind, the mental health charity, said:
“Changing the negative culture around mental health and tackling the causes of
stress and poor mental health at work will benefit all staff, whether they have a diagnosed mental health problem or not. The cost of implementing wellbeing initiatives can cause concern for businesses, but they actually save money in the long run.
“Forward-thinking employers recognise the benefits of recruiting and retaining a talented and diverse workforce, including people whose mental health or other disability may have prevented them from working previously. “It’s really positive to see more people talking openly about their mental health, especially at work but we know that there’s still a culture of silence particularly within certain workplaces. “We want employers to see promoting good mental health as more than a legal obligation, but part of being a responsible employer and sending a message to staff that they are valued and appreciated.”