Mind business summit supported by AXA PPP healthcare

Our Taking Care of Business campaign calls on employers to create mentally healthy, open workplaces and aims to equip them with the awareness and tools to respond appropriately to employees who disclose a mental health problem.

Read the Business summit report
‘Taking care of business: employer solutions for better mental health at work’ reveals how employers feel mental health can be more positively promoted and managed at work, with powerful testimonies and best practice case studies.

Mind will be campaigning for Government and employers to take up the recommendations in the report.

In 2011 Mind hosted a government and business summit with key sector leaders from companies of all sizes to:

• explore the challenges employers face
• share their own experiences and best practice
• agree collective standards and actions to promote within their sector.

We wanted to find out how we can encourage others to follow the lead of employers like AXA PPP healthcare, who hosted the event and build employee health into their core business.

What would you do in these situations?

We gave the delegates three scenarios involving mental health in the workplace and suggestions for how they might have been better handled. How would you react in similar situations? Mind’s recommendations on disclosure may help.

Scenario one

George who works for a removals company has been making costing mistakes and been the cause of customer complaints. He has also been off sick and there are rumours he has bipolar disorder.

Scenario two

After transferring to a new role within her company Alex has come into conflict with her manager. This results in Alex taking out a grievance against the manager and subsequently being signed off sick by her GP for “work-related stress and depression”.

Scenario three

A new employee with impressive credentials has trouble fitting in. After a number of four-day absences his employers organise a return-to-work interview. He reports feeling isolated and not being properly inducted or trained in his new role, which has led to extreme stress.

Where do we go from here?

A mix of large and small employers (Barclays, Happy Ltd, Linklaters, Marks & Spencer, Stannah Stairlifts and Veolia) attended the summit as well, as representatives from stakeholder organisations.

Speeches from Government Minister Lord Freud, Business in the Community, National Grid and Deloitte set the scene, while organisations like the British Chambers of Commerce, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Work Foundation shared perspectives from their own sectors.

The discussion was comprehensive and solutions focused – employers shared their own experiences of the challenges they face but also how they have – or could – overcome these.

Our task now is to document the discussion with practical recommendations to underpin Mind’s ‘Taking care of business’ campaign going forward.