Time to Talk: Mental Health and the Construction Industry

Mental health is all too often a taboo subject in the world of construction, however, it’s an issue that needs to be talked about.

Data released by the CIOB has indicated that 26% of construction industry professionals considered taking their own lives in 2019 and an eye-watering 97% of construction workers reported being stressed at some point in their career.

Causes of stress highlighted in the report included job insecurity, long hours, lack of support provided from HR and time away from families, to name but a few.

And, with mental health issues affecting 1 in 4 of us, it’s definitely time that employers looked into how they can support their workforce.

During these challenging and uncertain times, it’s more important than ever before that employers take responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their employees.

How can you help your employees manage their mental health?

1. Normalise talking

Try to normalise talking about mental health issues within your working environment and make it clear that mental health issues are just as valid as physical health issues.

Have an open-door policy so that members of your staff can approach you to discuss their concerns, and encourage employees to be honest if they need to take a day off due to their mental health.

2. Support work-life balance

Employees who are overworked and tired are more likely to suffer from mental health issues than those that work a regular 8-hour day. With this in mind, employees should have a healthy work life balance, so they are not worked to a point they are stressed and overwhelmed.

There are lots of things that you can do as an employer to support a better work life balance including ensuring all workloads are manageable, down time means down time and work deadlines should be realistic and achievable.

3. Offer Flexi Time

Juggling work life and family can be challenging at times. So offering flexibility can often be more important to some employees than a pay rise.

If your business set up allows for it, flexi time is a great way to also help to reduce stress, tiredness and anxiety as employees have the option to come in later and leave earlier, freeing up much needed time in their day for other commitments. At the same time, this is also a great way to increase productivity in the workplace, too.

4. Recognise your employees at work

Reward and recognition schemes do wonders for boosting employees’ productivity, self-esteem and morale. They are also a great way to improve the mental health of your team, as providing praise ensures that they feel valued.

Whether you recognise a milestone hit, a job completed to a high standard, or a project completed way ahead of deadline, this is a great way to improve the wellbeing of your staff. And rewards needn’t break the bank as a simple card with a hand-written note thanking your employee can go a long way.

5. Introduce wellness into the workplace

Finally, all employers, regardless of the sector that they work in, should recognise the importance of introducing wellness into the workplace.

From offering gym memberships and initiating boot camps through to encouraging your staff to eat well and look after their body and mind, there are lots of ways to introduce wellness as a means of tackling mental health issues.

Supporting employee mental health with Tribuco Knowledge Base

Here at Tribuco, we provide a range of health and wellbeing learning videos and resources within our store which you can use to help employees tackle the mental health crisis in the industry.

To find out more about how Tribuco can help you deliver engaging, effective video content, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

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Time to Talk: Mental Health and the Construction Industry