LET’S TALK MENTAL HEALTH: Driving culture change in the ‘Mad Men’ world
LET’S TALK MENTAL HEALTH Driving culture change in the ‘Mad Men’ world To create a mentally healthy workplace, everyone in an organisation needs to play a sustained role, backed by a proper strategy and the right level of resources. A simple thing to state on paper but extremely challenging to deliver in practice. It’s a task made more difficult in our business, Publicis Groupe UK as we are undergoing radical transformation as we execute our ‘Sprint to the Future’ plan. Change is taking…
Part 2 – Personalising Mental Health and Wellbeing: Top 3 tips for embracing personalisation to get workplace mental health and wellbeing right
Personalising Mental Health and Wellbeing: HR’s biggest challenge yet? Part 2: Cary’s Top 3 tips for embracing personalisation to get workplace mental health and wellbeing right I’ve spent much of my working life thinking about the challenge here, for organisations in particular. I’ve been asked many times over the years for the top 3 things I’d recommend organisations focus on to get mental health and wellbeing right. Of course, the context changes over…
Personalising Mental Health and Wellbeing: HR’s biggest challenge yet?
Personalising Mental Health and Wellbeing: HR’s biggest challenge yet? Work and how it makes you feel. Health and wellbeing in all its forms. These are things I’ve been studying and talking publicly about for over 40 years now. And that’s because they matter. Most of us spend 80% of our waking time at work during an average week… and all too often that extends to weekends too! So how we feel at work, and perhaps more importantly, when we go home at night, makes a huge difference to both our…
Personal Stories
Personal stories are the ones that make the biggest impact, and this is never truer than when talking about mental health and wellbeing. Initiatives such as Mental Health Awareness week have long promoted the fact that initiating a dialogue can have a tremendous effect, particularly within the workplace. However, tackling this subject can be difficult. Employees can be left wondering whether discussing mental health with their seniors could affect their job security, perception by colleagues,…
Can measuring your organisation’s wellbeing help you retain your talent?
Can measuring your organisation’s wellbeing help you retain your talent? The costs of staff leaving are often significant for organisations. What if you could predict who is going to leave before they do, so you have the chance to do something about it and prevent the associated costs? In November 2018, we collected wellbeing data across 4,000 employees and tracked how many of them quit their jobs in the following 6 months to understand whether wellbeing has an impact on staff…
Time to Talk Day 2019
As the name suggests, businesses, schools and communities across the UK are all encouraged to set aside time to help people start talking. Not just talking about anything and everything, though, but about one thing in particular: mental health. As a topic of conversation, however, it’s still quite taboo. Many people are afraid to talk about their experiences struggling with mental health issues (be it their own or those of a loved one) due to deep-rooted cultural assumptions that such illnesses…
Blue Monday is a Myth
Blue Monday is a myth. It’s startling that so many people are unaware of its inception – did you know that “Blue Monday” started life as a PR stunt for the holiday company, Sky Travel? In 2005, Sky Travel released a campaign where psychologist Cliff Arnall predicted what would be the most depressing day of the year. Using an equation dreamed up to answer the PR Agency’s question, the third Monday in January was coined ‘Blue Monday’. 14 years later, Mr Arnall confessed that the date has…
Why rising mental health absence might not be a bad thing – for now
It’s undeniable that mental health problems are on the rise – but could the statistics that show this upward trend actually be telling us we’re making progress? It’s hard to ignore the warning signs that the UK has a mental health crisis – it’s a dominant topic within the media, a clearly stated priority across political parties, and is the top priority on many corporate agendas. In fact, the latest figures show that almost half of businesses have a defined…
Mental Health At Work Infographic: The Issues, Impact And What You Can Do To Help
Right now, one in six of your colleagues will be experiencing depression, anxiety or problems relating to mental health. Mental health can be a serious issue for businesses and our economy. All too often, employers first become aware that there’s a problem when an employee takes time off work. And by then it could be too late, as the absence may be impacting the business financially and putting pressure on the remaining employees. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and…
The stigma of mental ill health at work: The need for openness
The Ashes, especially from Englands perspective, took another turn for the worse last night when it was revealed that Jonathan Trott has had to leave the Tour in Australia due to a stress-related illness. He's admitted to suffering from the problem on and off for some time, and has been apparently getting support from the England backroom staff to help him manage this. However touring in Australia, with an English team, is always going to present a particularly high level of pressure. A great…