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BT UNION HEALTH & SAFETY
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BT Lauches UK's Biggest Employee Mental Health Drive
BT has launched a major programme to tackle problems such as anxiety, depression and stress in its workforce. The company has worked with its trade unions to create the Work Fit - Positive Mentality campaign which provides practical guidance to its 104,000 employees across the globe on how to improve their mental health at work and at home.
Although the company has done a lot to promote mental health in recent years, it still has some 500 people off sick every day with psychiatric problems.
BT hopes that by encouraging staff to adopt small changes in lifestyle and using proven techniques for increasing their resilience they will cope better with the pressures of modern living and work more creatively and productively.
It is the first time a UK company has launched a health awareness programme on this scale to tackle mental health issues. It is estimated that one in four UK workers will suffer a mental health problem in their working lives.*
Work Fit - Positive Mentality campaign has been drawn up in collaboration with the Communication Workers Union and Connect and with the support of the mental health charities, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and MIND. All of the company’s employees in the UK and across the globe will be given information on how to stave off and combat mental ill-health. The programme will demonstrate how regular exercise, healthy eating, relaxation techniques and even the support of friends and family can help to ward off depression, stress and anxiety. It will also educate staff to help reduce the stigma of mental illness and promote the range of support services that the company provides.
BT customer service manger Heidi Howarth, 35, was off work for three years following a serious car crash and suffered from depression.
Mother-of-two Heidi said: “I am now back at work full time after BT paid for counselling for me. Following my accident, I felt very isolated and was very physically restricted. I had been a very active person and I found this very hard to bear, which led to my breakdown.
“The counselling I had made a world of difference and the positive support maintained by both my management and colleagues kept me in touch with the world. I doubt any employer could do more.”
Jeannie Drake, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “The CWU is actively involved and engaged in supporting BT’s Work Fit programme, of which the Positive Mentality Campaign is part. It is an excellent initiative in which the union and the company are working in partnership.”
Adrian Askew, general secretary of Connect, said: “Stress, depression and other mental health problems can ruin lives, which is why employers must take their share of responsibility for ensuring that work isn’t a contributory factor. We are pleased BT is working with Connect to find ways of preventing and dealing with problems in this area.”
BT’s chief medical officer Dr Paul Litchfield said: “Mental wellbeing is the biggest health issue facing us in the western world. Attitudes and behaviours moulded by the gentler pace of life of the second half of the 20th century will not serve us well in coping with the frantic intensity of our 24/7 global society. We need to help our people get mentally fit for their lives at home and at work. BT takes pride in the way it supports people who develop mental illness but we want to go beyond that and help them avoid ill health in the first place so they can lead happier and more productive lives.”.
Bob Grove, employment director of the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, said: “We are delighted to support BT in this project, which will improve the lives of the BT workforce and also act as a model for other employers to improve the mental health of the working population.”
* Goldberg, D & Huxley, P 1992, Common Mental Disorders a bio-social model, Routledge.
Source: BT
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