Just a quarter of Scottish workers get enough mental health support

New research has found that only a quarter (24%) of Scottish workers feel their employer provides them with enough mental health support in the workplace.

The YouGov study, commissioned by leading job board, totaljobs, surveyed Scottish workers to find out about their experiences of mental health and wellbeing at work.

The study showed that 4% of people have taken sick days off work, or have been unable to work as an employee, due to a mental health issue in the last year - with nearly a third (29%) of these stating that their employer was unaware of the reason.

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Regarding whether they would be comfortable discussing a mental health issue with their employers, just under a third (30%) of Scottish workers said they would feel comfortable.

Of the reasons they would not feel comfortable discussing their mental health with their employer, 33% said they feel their employer would think negatively of them, 24% don’t think they would get enough or the right support, and 23% feel there is a ‘stigma’ attached to mental health issues.

Top 5 reasons employees are reluctant to discuss a mental health issue with an employer:

I feel it would make my employer think negatively of me (33%)

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I don’t think I’d get enough/the right support from my employer (24%)

I feel there is a ‘stigma’ attached to mental health issues (23%)

I don’t think it’s my employer’s business (i.e. they shouldn’t need to know about it) (23%)

I’d be embarrassed to discuss it with my employer (18%).

When asked about the services offered by their employer that may aid mental health and wellbeing, the most prevalent service was counselling, with 26% of workers saying this was offered.

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Top 5 mental health and wellbeing services offered by employer:

Counselling (free or paid-for) (26%)

Flexible working hours (24%)

Encouragement of regular breaks (15%)

Staff surveys specifically to ensure employees are not struggling at work (14%)

Gym memberships (free or discounted) (13%)

Totaljobs has created an online hub with lots of useful resources and articles on coping with mental health in the workplace. Find it HERE