The mental health charity Mind published a survey earlier this week showing that the recession has had a devastating effect on the wellbeing of British workers.

It found that one in ten workers had sought help from their doctor since the start of the recession and seven per cent had started taking antidepressants for stress and mental health problems directly caused by the pressures of recession on their workplace.

Other findings from the poll of just over 2000 workers carried out by Populus showed that:

• five per cent of workers had seen a counsellor 
• 50 per cent of workers said staff morale was low 
• 28 per cent of workers were working longer hours.

Mind’s new research also found that over the course of their careers:

• Almost 50 per cent of people had lost sleep due to work
• 22 per cent had developed depression
• one in five said that work stress had made them physically ill 
• one in four had cried at work due to unmanageable pressure
• Only 38 per cent of workers thought their current employer was doing enough to support them.

Although mental health problems account for the second biggest cause of sickness absence at work, Mind says that research by the Shaw Trust shows that awareness and understanding of mental health problems are extremely poor and most senior managers do not believe they affect their workforce.

Mind points out that mental health remains a taboo subject and employees often choose to put on a brave face at work concealing their distress. It says that this mixture of denial and bad management mean that mental health problems cost businesses an estimated £26 billion a year, which with better mental health and wellbeing interventions, could be slashed by a third saving the industry up to £8 billion a year.

For more information, go to: http://www.mind.org.uk