Is work your greatest stress?

Mental health problems are widespread in the workplace yet most bosses are ill-equipped to handle them, according to a new study published today.

Of the 1,596 people questioned, two-thirds of employees admitted that they or a work colleague had experienced a mental health problem.

Just 2 per cent thought their manager would be able to provide the necessary practical support, according to the study by The Work Foundation and the Mind Out for Mental Health campaign.

Almost half of employees said they would turn to their boss for advice if faced with a mental health problem.

The research showed 66 per cent of managers rated themselves as learners or novices about mental health.

Some 70 per cent of line managers have managed a member of staff with a diagnosed or suspected problem, according to the research.

Three-quarters of line managers do not think their organisations had adequate policies or procedures to deal with mental health.

According to a survey by the Centre for the Economics of Mental Health, stress-related absences account for half of all sicknesses from work with some 91 million working days believed to be lost each year due to mental health.

Research carried out in 2000 by the Mental Health Foundation revealed that 47 per cent of people with mental health problems said they had experienced discrimination at work.

Work is the single biggest cause of stress to people, with more than a third of Britons citing it as one of their biggest stress, according to a Samaritans survey in April.

People with more money are far more likely to see work as a cause of stress, with 59% of those whose household income is more than £30,000 being stressed by it.

People with mental health problems have the highest rate of unemployment among people with disabilities, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics in 1995.

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