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ACAS Issues Guidance For Employers On Mental Health At Work

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has issued guidance and support information on maintaining good mental health of employees aimed primarily at employers, but also worthy reading for all workers too.

The ACAS website states:

'The Government's Department of Health advises that one in four of us will experience mental ill health at some point in our lives. It is therefore important that employers and their staff take steps to promote positive mental health and support those experiencing mental ill health.'

It also gives this explanation of what we mean when we talk about mental health in general:

'Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.

Mental ill health can range from feeling 'a bit down' to common disorders such as anxiety and depression to more severe and far less common conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

Most people's mental health will not just be continuously good. Usually it will rise and fall depending on pressures and/or experiences in their life. A person may therefore feel in good mental health generally but also experience stress or anxiety from time to time.'

People that feel good about themselves often work productively, interact well with colleagues and make a valuable contribution to the workplace. A recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development study highlighted the impact that mental ill health can have on organisations.

Some of the key facts about our mental health and how work can negatively impact on our mental health that the study found:

• 37% of sufferers are more likely to get into conflict with colleagues
• 57% find it harder to juggle multiple tasks
• 80% find it difficult to concentrate
• 62% take longer to do tasks
• 50% are potentially less patient with customers/clients

Available also are short videos and a short document entitled: Acas framework for positive mental health at work, which is available to download from this website's E-Library Database using search category 'mental health' and search word 'ACAS'.

Also available is the ACAS Research document entitled: The Management Of Mental Health At Work using the same search criteria as above.

Source: ACAS

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