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My experience of depression at work
Posted Thursday 19 May 2011
Guest blog from John Binns, Partner at accounting and consultancy firm Deloitte. The post is part of our series on mental health at work.
I was pleased to speak at Mind’s business summit this Tuesday, which brought together a range of employers to explore the challenges and solutions to addressing mental heath in the workplace. I shared my personal experience as a partner in the leading professional services firm Deloitte.
In 2007, I experienced a period of significant depression. It meant me taking two months off work, and it changed forever how I and Deloitte see and respond to colleagues with mental health difficulties.
Once I had admitted my depression to senior managers, I thought my career would be over. But despite all my fears to the contrary, my colleagues reacted to my depression with unfaltering kindness and common sense. This allowed me to rest and recover in the same way that someone would who had a physical illness like a broken leg or a bad back.
When I returned to work on a graduated return, the positive way the company treated me meant that I felt even more engaged and energised with Deloitte than before, which meant I was more productive than ever. Even without knowing the figures, this made the business case for investing in staff wellbeing crystal clear to me.
Now I wish I’d spoken up earlier, so I could have got support an at earlier stage, before falling off the edge. Maybe if I’d opened up sooner I might have had enough support to manage my depression and stay in work, rather than take two months off.
My experience made me want to open the way for others in the early stages of depression – or managing someone in that situation – to talk openly about what is still a taboo subject for many.
Nationally, depression affects at least one in six of us, and this figure can be higher in high performing organisations where a lot of pressure is placed on employees to deliver. But, as Mind’s campaign this week highlights, stress and mental health problems are the elephant in the room at work. I wanted to ensure we tackled this at Deloitte and offered people communication channels to seek support.
So, on my return to work I spoke to senior partners within the firm about how people could spot the symptoms of stress and depression at the earliest stage and talk to someone about their fears and concerns. Working together with Mind and others within the firm, I developed the idea for Deloitte to set up our Mental Health Champions network.
Deloitte now has seven partners trained so people can talk to them in confidence about their mental health, outside of formal line management structures. This sends a signal that employees can be open about their mental health and access support at an early stage.
Some 30 people across the firm have sought help from Deloitte’s Mental Health Champions, and we have also boosted the firm’s Well Now programme to focus on managing pressure, building resilience and offering early help to colleagues.
Many more people (around 30 per month) also access our onsite Occupational Health Advisor for support. We’re now looking at what more we can do to ensure employees feel confident to come forward about stress and mental health issues.
I spoke about my experiences on BBC Breakfast TV this Monday. I had to think hard about agreeing to the TV appearance and I consulted with my family beforehand. But it’s so important to have senior and successful role models prepared to talk about this subject, to challenge some of the stigmas around mental health problems at work.
John Binns, Deloitte Partner
Read Mind's information and advice on work — whether it's how to stay well at work, dealing with stress or workplace bullying.
16 Comments
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Well done John.
Keep up the good work.
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Thanks for sharing John - hopefully more companies will have mental health champions to support staff.
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Nice to hear how well those at the top of the pile are treated. Sadly it doesn't quite tally with my experience from lower down the ranks.
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you are lucky I used to work for a city council and when are welfare officer retired she was not replaced if we wanted help we had to ring a BUPA helpline
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It is great that Deloitte responded so well and created the Mental Health Champions. I fear that not all companies would respond the same. In my previous role, although I received 'sympathy' from colleagues, professionally I was undermined. Legitimate business and operational concerns were dismissed and comments such as 'you must be thinking that because of your 'condition' were regular.
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John,
do you know how your company treated people with MH issues before your brave decision, especially those in the 'rank and file'?
Enjoyed all your words recently on MH - very uplifting. -
Great for you John. I have just published a book that covers my experience in the workplace plus my 30 years at a performance poet ... all profits go to MIND. It is important to share, i have had so many people contact me and share ... sure you have had the same and a true reminder that you are doing the right thing speaking up.
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@Andy @Rhys
In fact the company had a pretty good approach to people at all levels who mental health issues once there was an obvious problem.
However it was not talked about and many people including me didn’t realise the firm would be as supportive as it actually was.
I have therfore been trying to raise awareness that support is available and to make mental health a subject people are more comfortable discussing so that they feel able to disclose earlier and potentially head off major breakdowns.
In parallel we have been working to improve the actual support available as there are obviously still gaps and things we could do better. -
@John,
Thanks for your comments. My own experience in a regional office was of being pooh-poohed by senior staff when I was looking for support, but receiving positive comments from junior employees who, with reasonable confidentiality, shouldn't have even known about the issue.The fact is that accountancy is both high pressure and male-dominated (certainly at the top) and I don't think these have helped to create a supportive or open environment that would see mental health issues as anything other than a weakness.
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Thank you John. I saw your appearance on BBC Breakfast and was full of admiration. I have always had mental health issues which my partner does not understand and actively runs away from. He used to work at Deloittes and I am sure that seeing a partner from Deloittes talking about these issues has been positive in changing his perspective. The more people like you (in Senior business roles) have the courage to come forward the more the predudice will be eroded. Thank you so very much.
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@Rhys, I do feel very sorry that you did not get the support that you should have. I am sure that there remain those within our organisation and all other professional services firms that have the attitudes you describe. All I can say is that we are trying hard to shift the culture and real progress is being made. I am not clear from the blog if u r still at the firm but if so please do contact me at work and let's have a chat to see what I can do to help.
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I started to respond to this comment and it turned into such a long message I'm not sure if I post it here.
John - I wanted to thank you for appearing on Breakfast on Monday. I understand it must have been a difficult decision. I think you recognise that although your experience has been a positive one and the whole point of the piece was to get people talking about it, it is still difficult to do so.
Although your colleagues in Deloitte have been great, I'm sure you must have been aware that other companies, including your clients, may still find the topic difficult and be less supportive. I hope that doesn't turn out to be the case.
I strongly believe that if more senior managers from leading companies come out and set a precedent for being understanding about mental illness, it will filter down eventually.
It is very difficult for a small business to cope with the financial pressures of employing someone who has a lot of time off work, but big businesses certainly can afford it and they need to set a good example.
I agree with Rhys that the situation varies depending on where you are in an organisation. My experience (working for another large high performance company) has been generally mixed.
I've found that on the surface the company is supportive and has a good disability policy, but the reality is that on the ground it doesn't hold up and attitudes are still poor. The company culture (highly competitive, stressful and long hours) is not condusive to good mental health.
I've found that people at the top are generally more diversity-aware and supportive, but its the middle managers and my peers (newly-hired grads) that I find most difficult to reach. There is very little understanding and people just think I can't handle the pressure, not that I have an illness.
This is still a long comment after I tried to cut it down. I have a lot to say on the subject I guess.
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@John, I have left now (though not because of this and not with any ill feeling) but thank you for your offer. I do hope you make great progress with your mission - I know it will be a long slog.
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I'm glad you had such a good reception from your bosses, and that you were able to talk to them, and take the time to recover then return to work.
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At long last my prayers have been answered & there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I have now struggled for 2 long miserable years with depression at work. There I said it 'depression'. John, thank you for having the courage to speak out but would be grateful for a contact email address as my experience has been far from a postitive one.
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You're very lucky for the support you got - I don't feel I've had much at my place of work. I work as a porter at my local hospital, Most of my work colleagues are totally unsupportive. And a few hard core bullies go out of their way to deliberately wind me up. As for management, they're a joke. i.e: I had my yearly review with one last week and bullying came up. I mentioned an incident that happened a number of years ago that I've always felt was bullying but never mentioned to anyone before. (trying to get a bit of sympathy off him): I went to the porters room to sign out and go home one evening - As I was signing my name, a porter I've never got on with asks me (in a very pleasant voice) " are you on earlys tomorrow ?" yes I said politely (then screaming at the top of his voice he says): "Well YOU BETTER FUCK OFF HOME THEN!!!! My managers response was: I wouldn't count that as bullying - He was joking. Am I going mad or delusional, or is that not bulling? answers please.
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