According to mental health charity Mind, at least one in six workers is experiencing common mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.
We spoke to Dave Gill, Health, Safety and Environment Manager at Integrity Print, to find out about what they do to support their employees with their mental wellbeing.
‘Two years ago, the subject of mental health was raised by one of our Health & Safety committee. They suggested we needed to look at what we were doing to support the wellbeing of our employees.’
‘As a result of this, we found a company that could train some of our staff to become Mental Health First Aiders. 12 team members attended the two-day course to help them recognise and support colleagues with any mental health issues in the workplace.’
‘The initiative has been embraced by the whole company, so much so we are running a second session this summer, with another 10 people putting themselves forward. This will mean that over 10% of our workforce will be trained Mental Health First Aiders.’
Another layer of support
Integrity Print has also signed up to our free and confidential helpline, offering their employees access to practical and emotional support from trained advisers and counsellors.
As Dave explained, adding this extra layer of support means that employees can seek a range of support at any time; ‘We went out to look for some further support for our employees and came across The Printing Charity’s Helpline via the BPIF. It’s really important we recognise there will be times that our work-life balance might not be so great, so supplementing our own mental health training with access to the charity’s helpline means our employees can seek help when they need it most, helping them to feel more valued.’
If you’re a business in our sector and want to offer wellbeing support to your employees, get in touch with us to find out more about our helpline.