It was great to see the excellent report from CIPD and Simplyhealth , which was published this morning. It was also really good to see that it got such widespread coverage on this morning’s news programmes. That is a good sign that demonstrates the growing importance with which we hold workplace wellbeing, as the report broadly acknowledges.

What was less good, though, was that we continue to make heavy weather of improvements to workplace wellbeing – and particularly in supporting employee mental health. A few things stuck out for me, which I think bear repeating:

• Employee absence from work is the highest that it’s been for 10 years (7.8 days per employee per year). That’s 2 days per employee higher than in 2019, before Covid. That is cause for huge concern on all levels.
• Mental health is the greatest cause of long-term absence (4 weeks or more) and third highest for short-term absence.
• Workplace responses to supporting mental health still seem very reactive, with a focus on Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), Mental Health First Aid and access to counselling. Employers are still focused primarily on picking up the pieces rather than helping their workforce towards greater resilience. Frankly, we’re doing the easy and relatively cheap stuff rather than making a real long-term difference.
• There is much less evidence of proactive support, employers helping their employees to learn good strategies for managing their wellbeing - including physical activity, being in nature, connection with others, mindfulness and other approaches to building resilience. And that’s a huge, missed opportunity because that is where the evidence suggests the best outcomes lie.

At ground-breaking charity Mind Over Mountains , we’re about bringing that more proactive support to a workplace, delivering retreats and wellbeing walks that can help a team towards better resilience and wellbeing. But we’re also about teaching people how to manage their mental health better over time. The reality is that we all have mental health – sometimes great, sometimes significantly less good – and we can all do with working out the things that help us most and ensuring we make them part of our routine.

And the practical reality, evidenced over and over again by our clinical colleagues, is that physical activity, being in nature, mindfulness, and connection with and support from others (whether peers, mental health first aiders, coaches or counsellors) deliver the best outcomes for our mental health. That’s why we’re proud to be able to work with organisations like the National Academy for Social Prescribing , the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine , and the University of Central Lancashire , among others, to demonstrate those outcomes and to help push forward the case for nature- and activity-based approaches to mental health. It's why we'll be enthusiastic participants in the Movement in the Workplace event being hosted by Decathlon and RED January on Thursday.

The body of evidence is already large and is still growing. Common mental health challenges such as stress, anxiety and depression are essentially preventable, but only with a real intention across all parts of our society. Employers have a massive role to play in that change – and it’s something that is very much in their interest. The last statistic that I saw was that better mental health support in the workplace could save UK businesses up to £8 billion a year. I suspect in the light of these latest data from the CIPD and Simplyhealth (and the impact of inflation) that that number is now a good deal higher. Proactive and preventative wellbeing programmes make good commercial sense and deliver a high return on investment.

At Mind Over Mountains we can support your business to support your people. We can play a key role in helping you to deliver better mental health across your organisation. To find out more, check out our corporate partnerships pack – and drop me a line if you want to know more.

Think of us as your natural health service!