Mental health and small business: a health and safety perspective | The Indicator Podcast

Description

In this episode, we explore the intersection of mental health and workplace safety in small businesses. Our host sits down with our health and safety expert to unpack how mental wellbeing fits into the broader safety conversation—and why it’s essential for business owners to take it seriously. 🧠

Topics covered:

the role of mental health in health and safety policies
common challenges small businesses face
practical steps to support staff wellbeing
why prevention is better than cure

Whether you're a small business owner, team leader, or just curious about creating a healthier work environment, this conversation offers real-world insights and actionable advice.

Visit www.lefebvre-uk.co.uk to explore our product range, or connect with us on social media:

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Duncan
Welcome, everyone, to today's conversation about a very pertinent issue that affects all of us, mental health in the workplace. Today, I'm joined by Rachel Wildman, a health and safety expert who has particular expertise in this topic. Glad to have you on board, Rachel, welcome.
Rachel
Thank you very much, Duncan. It's nice to be here, and it's great to have the opportunity to talk about mental health, particularly in the workplace because it's something that can quite often be overlooked. The impact - the negative impact it can have on businesses - can be actually quite extreme and can affect your bottom line. So it's great to have this opportunity to talk through what the issue is and hopefully give some businesses some ideas on some cheap but effective control measures that they can put in place to stop it impacting their everyday operations.
Duncan
OK, good. Well, let's start with the basics. How crucial, in your view, is good mental health in the workplace?
Rachel
Well, it's crucial to create a thriving workplace. You know, in this day and age of very competitiveness between companies and organisations - whether or not it's competing for contracts or competing for top talent to come and work for you - creating a thriving, innovative workplace is absolutely critical. Now, according to the Mental Health Foundation, there are 70 million working days lost each year in the UK just to mental health issues. And that can add up to a little over £45 billion in a year. So, again, if we can work on good mental health and reduce the negative side of it, that can only be good for the bottom line for business.
Duncan
Yeah, indeed. I mean, the figures are quite staggering, but unfortunately, poor mental health remains something of a stigma. And you'll be as aware as I that many employees suffer in silence. Can you speak about the risks of poor mental health at work?
Rachel
Yes, certainly. So if your staff, one of them or, you know, many of them even are suffering from poor mental health, there are some very obvious things that will happen, such as a decreased productivity, which, again, may impact your bottom line. It may be that people are having to take time off work because they're having days where they simply can't get out of bed. So they're calling in sick. So, again, that can affect you. You might have to pay statutory sick pay. Depending what your company policy is on sick leave, you may well be paying them even though they're not sort of at work. So that can be a risk for your business as well. It can also lead to high staff turnover. So, again, if you've got a lot of staff that are really struggling with their mental health and it's deemed as being quite a negative workplace, you may well find staff are leaving. And of course, that can then have an impact with recruitment costs, etc. And then some of the less obvious risks can be things like strain on team relationships. So, if you have people that are really suffering with poor mental health, it might be that you're not creating that very innovative and diverse workplace that can obviously encourage and foster creative relationships. And again, poor mental health can have a very negative impact on that. And in fact, the charity Mind has stated that 42% of staff in a survey they did have considered leaving their work due to the negative work environment. So again, it really is a high-risk hazard if it's not dealt with properly.
Duncan
Yeah, indeed, it really does make it especially important for businesses, and especially small businesses, to proactively support mental health. But what can they do? What can they do on a sort of practical level to support their staff?
Rachel
Okay, well, sort of the first place always to start is really with your risk assessment. It's a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974 that all companies should be doing risk assessments. And really the first place to start is your organisational risk assessment. So, you know, what is the likelihood of stress being in your workplace? And then once you've sort of worked that one out, you can then focus on some actions that you can do. Interestingly, the government and the NHS are changing their focus on mental health and it's more about prevention than cure, which can only be a good thing. And really what some SMEs can do is to really try and reduce that stigma of mental health in the workplace. Have open dialogue with people, you know, make sure that you've provided resources. It could be something as simple as letting people have a mental health day or a wellness day once every three months just so that they can recharge their batteries, whatever it may be, you know, but they can do something such as charity work which can really help people sort of you know feel engaged and can really boost that dopamine in people's brains to sort of help them have that that disconnect.
Duncan
That's wonderful advice and low cost or no cost in terms of implementation from an employer's perspective, but before they get there, what are the typical signs of poor mental health that an employer or colleagues should be looking out for in the workplace?
Rachel
OK, well, it's important to remember that stress and mental health issues manifest themselves very differently in everyone. So what some person, one person might be suffering from, another one might be displaying different symptoms. Signs to look out for include changes in behaviour. So if you've got somebody who's normally regularly early into work and ready to get going and then, you know, you notice that actually they're starting to come in later and later and they don't seem to be particularly engaged, that can be a sign that they're suffering from stress. It might be that they have mood swings. They might be very up one moment and down another. They might be withdrawing a little bit. So maybe some of the social interactions where they might be - have been, you know, in the past, the life and soul in the canteen and on break times - you might find that somebody starts to become a little bit withdrawn and remove themselves from those social interactions. It can also be changes in performance. So you might have a very high performer who suddenly sort of drops off a little bit and they're starting to maybe struggle or not produce the quantity or the quality of work that they have done before. And some of the obvious ones are more sort of personal. It could be that that person is always tired, you might see that they have weight gain or weight loss. It might be something as simple as somebody who maybe has taken good care of themselves and they always look clean and tidy suddenly starts coming in with greasy hair, unwashed clothes and just a general unkempt look. So that can be a sign to look out for as well that somebody is struggling with their mental health.
Duncan
OK, so changes in behaviour and performance can be key indicators. But how do we distinguish a bad day or a bad week, which, be honest, we all have those, from an ongoing mental health issue?
Rachel
Yeah, absolutely. Very, very good question, because that's one of the hardest things to define. It's important to remember that mental health is something that has persisted for a few weeks or a few months. As you say, everybody has a bad day where everything seems to go wrong and you're, "Oh, I'm stressed, I can't cope." But that's just a bad day. What's really important to understand is the difference between normal pressure that we all have, whether it's in the workplace or at home, and stress. So it's really when multiple signs all appear together in the workplace that it's time to maybe step in and offer some support.
Duncan
Okay, well, talking of good questions, we've had one in - and it's a common one for many employers - and it's this: what are the specific things that a manager or employer can do to help identify these signs?
Rachel
Okay, so really to start with, if we split that into two, if we take the employer first. Really, as an employer, if you train your managers to recognise the signs and symptoms. Training is absolutely critical because if you don't understand what to look for, it's very hard to recognise and be able to step in and offer that support as needed. If you look at cost, it doesn't have to be expensive. Really, it can be just sort of going online, listening to some webinars as we're doing now. Or, you know, if you do have the money, the Health and Safety Executive combined with NEBOSH have put together a two half-day training course which is called Developing Manager Capability and that's a cost of £580 per person, which might sound expensive but if your risk assessment has identified that you've got an issue, that may be a good investment to sort of really get somebody formally trained in recognising those symptoms as well. The other thing, as a manager, it can be things such as just regularly checking in with your staff. In this day and age where there's lots of hybrid working or distance working, regular check-ins, whether it's just a monthly face-to-face call or, you know, even a text once a week. How are you? How are things doing? Maybe focus on the person rather than the job to make that individual feel like that they are valued and they're not just a cog in a wheel. Show genuine concern. If you're checking in and somebody's saying that "I am struggling", don't dismiss it. You know, what you deal with is very different to how somebody else would deal with a certain situation. So listen actively to what they're saying and be compassionate. Make sure that you're generating that really safe space for that person to discuss their issues with you.
Duncan
OK, that's all really helpful. I'm going to put you on the spot here, Rachel. OK? can you can you come up with 10 things that employers can do to support good mental health in the workplace?
Rachel
Yeah, I certainly can. Thank you for asking. So as we sort of said, really creating that positive environment, making sure that you've got an open door policy, making sure that there's no stigma attached to it, you know, ensuring that people feel safe to be able to come and talk to you or your managers if they are struggling. That really is the first step, because if you build that trust up with your staff, it's likely that you're not going to be in a negative working environment in the first place. So that's really key. Secondly, I would say it's about maintaining regular communications with your staff, whether you're seeing them on a day-to-day basis or if they work remotely, etc. Just having those regular communications, checking in, saying hi, how are you doing? That is really important. And again, it really doesn't cost you any time, only a little bit of effort to do that one. We've already discussed about providing mental health training, particularly for supervisors, managers, etc. But you might also find, depending on the size of your workforce, that you want to provide something like a first aid, mental health first aider, sorry. So, St John's Ambulance, for example, do this course so you can train people to be sort of buddies and to recognise the signs and symptoms and to just be able to point the person who's suffering in the right direction. Other things that you can do can be providing flexible working hours. So, again, it may be that the individual is suffering because they're struggling with childcare or they're having to look after elderly parents or the train timetables all up the swanny, whatever it may be. But allowing a little bit of flexible working and not docking wages because they're two minutes late, that can also be a very positive way to creating that safe and secure environment where people can be themselves without worrying too much. Fifth, I would say is to make sure that as a business you have a robust mental health policy. So clearly state how you're going to deal with it, what you're going to do, and steps that you will take if somebody comes to you and says they're suffering with mental health. And then that way you can be treating everybody in a fair and equitable manner. So, again, it sort of reduces a lot of stigma if you can do that as well. A couple of areas that some businesses might feel a little bit uncomfortable with doing - but again, can really reap benefits - is really to encourage physical activity. So, you know, if you find that your office-based staff are always sitting at their desks and eating their lunch, you know, sort of encourage them to get up and walk about or, you know, have a break-out area or on a different floor and, you know, sort of encourage people to use the stairs, not the lifts and sort of get a bit of blood flowing, get a bit of that social interaction as well, so people aren't just sat on their social media and isolating themselves in their lunch hours. I think that physical activity is really important. It can be promoting work-life balance. Now, again, you might think, "What's this got to do with me as an employer? You know it's not really anything to do with me", but actually there are some quite simple steps that you can take and things such as if your office staff don't normally work over a weekend, don't expect them to answer emails if you send them an email over the weekend. You know, allow them time to switch off and disengage from work, because if you have that "always on" culture, that can really sort of break into people's rest and recuperation time. And if they are starting to struggle, it can really compound the problem as well. So, you know, you as an employer can do quite a lot to make sure that you can promote that work-life balance and not interfere with R&R time for that individual. Other things as well that you can do is provide resources. So, again, it doesn't have to be expensive. You could provide an employment assistance programme. They generally start at about £10 per person per month. So, it's not a huge expense. However, you know, obviously, in this day and age, a lot of businesses are struggling. So, it could just be things like printing off some posters, you know, making people aware that you're aware that there can be mental health problems in the workplace, maybe sort of having a - providing a buddy. As I say, you know, somebody who not necessarily is trained, but somebody who has that empathetic nature and that people feel safe talking to. Ninth - I think I'm on the number nine on the list of 10 steps to take(!) - it can be to simply recognise reward and achievements. You know, give people that dopamine hit, say well done and be really genuine about it. You know, if somebody's done something that's really good and they've gone over and above, if you don't recognise that, they might think "What's the point?" And if they're feeling a bit down anyway, that can, again, really drag them down. So just something as really simple as recognition and being really genuine about that can go a long, long way. I've actually got another one. So I'm going to give you 11 steps in total. So my 10th step, it could be, again, a really simple thing as an employer that you could do, such as look at the work environment that your staff are working in. If they work in a fairly dark and dingy office, look at the lighting. Can you remove blinds to get natural daylight in just to sort of make sure that, again, people are sort of getting that sort of bit of a dopamine hit? It might be that the workplace is poorly designed. So just simply rearranging, you know, maybe putting a pot plant in. It sounds really silly, but it can go a long, long way in making, you know, individuals feel that they are, like, really valued and that they can, you know, sort of put in their best for you that way. A big one really, again, that you can do is - and I've had experience with this fairly recently - is provide good solid IT solutions because there's nothing worse than if you want something to go really nice and quickly and you've got a big glitch in your IT systems. It makes you just want to throw your computer out of the window. Now, on a normal day, that's absolutely fine. We all want to do that. But if you've got somebody who's already suffering from mental health issues, you know, it can be something that can really tip somebody over the edge. So, again, as an employer, you know, look at your office layout, your lighting, your IT solutions some simple things like that that you can pick up on that can make a huge difference to those individuals. And then finally, what's now my 11th step, is really lead by example. If you're a burnt-out manager or supervisor yourself you're not sending a very good message to your staff. So again, if you feel that you are starting to struggle, make sure you recognise that and get help. Make sure that you are setting a good example to your staff and, you know, really promote positive mental health within the workplace.
Duncan
Fantastic, Rachel. Eleven out of ten for you! Any final thoughts just before we wrap up?
Rachel
So really the most important thing I'd say is to value and respect employees as individuals. Creating a supportive and understanding atmosphere, you know, any business will enhance well-being, foster loyalty and will help drive organisational business success.
Duncan
Okay, well listen, that's been brilliant. Thank you, Rachel, very much for your valuable insights on enhancing mental health at work, and implementing some of Rachel's advice is sure to reap rewards in your workplace. So, thank you again, Rachel.
Rachel
Very welcome.
Duncan
And just finally, for more information about our range of products relating to health and safety, some of which are now powered by AI, please do visit www.lefebvre-uk.co.uk or call us on 01233 653500. But for now, thank you very much for spending some time with us.

Description

Topics covered:

the role of mental health in health and safety policies
common challenges small businesses face
practical steps to support staff wellbeing
why prevention is better than cure

Whether you're a small business owner, team leader, or just curious about creating a healthier work environment, this conversation offers real-world insights and actionable advice.

Visit www.lefebvre-uk.co.uk to explore our product range, or connect with us on social media:

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Duncan
Welcome, everyone, to today's conversation about a very pertinent issue that affects all of us, mental health in the workplace. Today, I'm joined by Rachel Wildman, a health and safety expert who has particular expertise in this topic. Glad to have you on board, Rachel, welcome.
Rachel
Thank you very much, Duncan. It's nice to be here, and it's great to have the opportunity to talk about mental health, particularly in the workplace because it's something that can quite often be overlooked. The impact - the negative impact it can have on businesses - can be actually quite extreme and can affect your bottom line. So it's great to have this opportunity to talk through what the issue is and hopefully give some businesses some ideas on some cheap but effective control measures that they can put in place to stop it impacting their everyday operations.
Duncan
OK, good. Well, let's start with the basics. How crucial, in your view, is good mental health in the workplace?
Rachel
Well, it's crucial to create a thriving workplace. You know, in this day and age of very competitiveness between companies and organisations - whether or not it's competing for contracts or competing for top talent to come and work for you - creating a thriving, innovative workplace is absolutely critical. Now, according to the Mental Health Foundation, there are 70 million working days lost each year in the UK just to mental health issues. And that can add up to a little over £45 billion in a year. So, again, if we can work on good mental health and reduce the negative side of it, that can only be good for the bottom line for business.
Duncan
Yeah, indeed. I mean, the figures are quite staggering, but unfortunately, poor mental health remains something of a stigma. And you'll be as aware as I that many employees suffer in silence. Can you speak about the risks of poor mental health at work?
Rachel
Yes, certainly. So if your staff, one of them or, you know, many of them even are suffering from poor mental health, there are some very obvious things that will happen, such as a decreased productivity, which, again, may impact your bottom line. It may be that people are having to take time off work because they're having days where they simply can't get out of bed. So they're calling in sick. So, again, that can affect you. You might have to pay statutory sick pay. Depending what your company policy is on sick leave, you may well be paying them even though they're not sort of at work. So that can be a risk for your business as well. It can also lead to high staff turnover. So, again, if you've got a lot of staff that are really struggling with their mental health and it's deemed as being quite a negative workplace, you may well find staff are leaving. And of course, that can then have an impact with recruitment costs, etc. And then some of the less obvious risks can be things like strain on team relationships. So, if you have people that are really suffering with poor mental health, it might be that you're not creating that very innovative and diverse workplace that can obviously encourage and foster creative relationships. And again, poor mental health can have a very negative impact on that. And in fact, the charity Mind has stated that 42% of staff in a survey they did have considered leaving their work due to the negative work environment. So again, it really is a high-risk hazard if it's not dealt with properly.
Duncan
Yeah, indeed, it really does make it especially important for businesses, and especially small businesses, to proactively support mental health. But what can they do? What can they do on a sort of practical level to support their staff?
Rachel
Okay, well, sort of the first place always to start is really with your risk assessment. It's a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974 that all companies should be doing risk assessments. And really the first place to start is your organisational risk assessment. So, you know, what is the likelihood of stress being in your workplace? And then once you've sort of worked that one out, you can then focus on some actions that you can do. Interestingly, the government and the NHS are changing their focus on mental health and it's more about prevention than cure, which can only be a good thing. And really what some SMEs can do is to really try and reduce that stigma of mental health in the workplace. Have open dialogue with people, you know, make sure that you've provided resources. It could be something as simple as letting people have a mental health day or a wellness day once every three months just so that they can recharge their batteries, whatever it may be, you know, but they can do something such as charity work which can really help people sort of you know feel engaged and can really boost that dopamine in people's brains to sort of help them have that that disconnect.
Duncan
That's wonderful advice and low cost or no cost in terms of implementation from an employer's perspective, but before they get there, what are the typical signs of poor mental health that an employer or colleagues should be looking out for in the workplace?
Rachel
OK, well, it's important to remember that stress and mental health issues manifest themselves very differently in everyone. So what some person, one person might be suffering from, another one might be displaying different symptoms. Signs to look out for include changes in behaviour. So if you've got somebody who's normally regularly early into work and ready to get going and then, you know, you notice that actually they're starting to come in later and later and they don't seem to be particularly engaged, that can be a sign that they're suffering from stress. It might be that they have mood swings. They might be very up one moment and down another. They might be withdrawing a little bit. So maybe some of the social interactions where they might be - have been, you know, in the past, the life and soul in the canteen and on break times - you might find that somebody starts to become a little bit withdrawn and remove themselves from those social interactions. It can also be changes in performance. So you might have a very high performer who suddenly sort of drops off a little bit and they're starting to maybe struggle or not produce the quantity or the quality of work that they have done before. And some of the obvious ones are more sort of personal. It could be that that person is always tired, you might see that they have weight gain or weight loss. It might be something as simple as somebody who maybe has taken good care of themselves and they always look clean and tidy suddenly starts coming in with greasy hair, unwashed clothes and just a general unkempt look. So that can be a sign to look out for as well that somebody is struggling with their mental health.
Duncan
OK, so changes in behaviour and performance can be key indicators. But how do we distinguish a bad day or a bad week, which, be honest, we all have those, from an ongoing mental health issue?
Rachel
Yeah, absolutely. Very, very good question, because that's one of the hardest things to define. It's important to remember that mental health is something that has persisted for a few weeks or a few months. As you say, everybody has a bad day where everything seems to go wrong and you're, "Oh, I'm stressed, I can't cope." But that's just a bad day. What's really important to understand is the difference between normal pressure that we all have, whether it's in the workplace or at home, and stress. So it's really when multiple signs all appear together in the workplace that it's time to maybe step in and offer some support.
Duncan
Okay, well, talking of good questions, we've had one in - and it's a common one for many employers - and it's this: what are the specific things that a manager or employer can do to help identify these signs?
Rachel
Okay, so really to start with, if we split that into two, if we take the employer first. Really, as an employer, if you train your managers to recognise the signs and symptoms. Training is absolutely critical because if you don't understand what to look for, it's very hard to recognise and be able to step in and offer that support as needed. If you look at cost, it doesn't have to be expensive. Really, it can be just sort of going online, listening to some webinars as we're doing now. Or, you know, if you do have the money, the Health and Safety Executive combined with NEBOSH have put together a two half-day training course which is called Developing Manager Capability and that's a cost of £580 per person, which might sound expensive but if your risk assessment has identified that you've got an issue, that may be a good investment to sort of really get somebody formally trained in recognising those symptoms as well. The other thing, as a manager, it can be things such as just regularly checking in with your staff. In this day and age where there's lots of hybrid working or distance working, regular check-ins, whether it's just a monthly face-to-face call or, you know, even a text once a week. How are you? How are things doing? Maybe focus on the person rather than the job to make that individual feel like that they are valued and they're not just a cog in a wheel. Show genuine concern. If you're checking in and somebody's saying that "I am struggling", don't dismiss it. You know, what you deal with is very different to how somebody else would deal with a certain situation. So listen actively to what they're saying and be compassionate. Make sure that you're generating that really safe space for that person to discuss their issues with you.
Duncan
OK, that's all really helpful. I'm going to put you on the spot here, Rachel. OK? can you can you come up with 10 things that employers can do to support good mental health in the workplace?
Rachel
Yeah, I certainly can. Thank you for asking. So as we sort of said, really creating that positive environment, making sure that you've got an open door policy, making sure that there's no stigma attached to it, you know, ensuring that people feel safe to be able to come and talk to you or your managers if they are struggling. That really is the first step, because if you build that trust up with your staff, it's likely that you're not going to be in a negative working environment in the first place. So that's really key. Secondly, I would say it's about maintaining regular communications with your staff, whether you're seeing them on a day-to-day basis or if they work remotely, etc. Just having those regular communications, checking in, saying hi, how are you doing? That is really important. And again, it really doesn't cost you any time, only a little bit of effort to do that one. We've already discussed about providing mental health training, particularly for supervisors, managers, etc. But you might also find, depending on the size of your workforce, that you want to provide something like a first aid, mental health first aider, sorry. So, St John's Ambulance, for example, do this course so you can train people to be sort of buddies and to recognise the signs and symptoms and to just be able to point the person who's suffering in the right direction. Other things that you can do can be providing flexible working hours. So, again, it may be that the individual is suffering because they're struggling with childcare or they're having to look after elderly parents or the train timetables all up the swanny, whatever it may be. But allowing a little bit of flexible working and not docking wages because they're two minutes late, that can also be a very positive way to creating that safe and secure environment where people can be themselves without worrying too much. Fifth, I would say is to make sure that as a business you have a robust mental health policy. So clearly state how you're going to deal with it, what you're going to do, and steps that you will take if somebody comes to you and says they're suffering with mental health. And then that way you can be treating everybody in a fair and equitable manner. So, again, it sort of reduces a lot of stigma if you can do that as well. A couple of areas that some businesses might feel a little bit uncomfortable with doing - but again, can really reap benefits - is really to encourage physical activity. So, you know, if you find that your office-based staff are always sitting at their desks and eating their lunch, you know, sort of encourage them to get up and walk about or, you know, have a break-out area or on a different floor and, you know, sort of encourage people to use the stairs, not the lifts and sort of get a bit of blood flowing, get a bit of that social interaction as well, so people aren't just sat on their social media and isolating themselves in their lunch hours. I think that physical activity is really important. It can be promoting work-life balance. Now, again, you might think, "What's this got to do with me as an employer? You know it's not really anything to do with me", but actually there are some quite simple steps that you can take and things such as if your office staff don't normally work over a weekend, don't expect them to answer emails if you send them an email over the weekend. You know, allow them time to switch off and disengage from work, because if you have that "always on" culture, that can really sort of break into people's rest and recuperation time. And if they are starting to struggle, it can really compound the problem as well. So, you know, you as an employer can do quite a lot to make sure that you can promote that work-life balance and not interfere with R&R time for that individual. Other things as well that you can do is provide resources. So, again, it doesn't have to be expensive. You could provide an employment assistance programme. They generally start at about £10 per person per month. So, it's not a huge expense. However, you know, obviously, in this day and age, a lot of businesses are struggling. So, it could just be things like printing off some posters, you know, making people aware that you're aware that there can be mental health problems in the workplace, maybe sort of having a - providing a buddy. As I say, you know, somebody who not necessarily is trained, but somebody who has that empathetic nature and that people feel safe talking to. Ninth - I think I'm on the number nine on the list of 10 steps to take(!) - it can be to simply recognise reward and achievements. You know, give people that dopamine hit, say well done and be really genuine about it. You know, if somebody's done something that's really good and they've gone over and above, if you don't recognise that, they might think "What's the point?" And if they're feeling a bit down anyway, that can, again, really drag them down. So just something as really simple as recognition and being really genuine about that can go a long, long way. I've actually got another one. So I'm going to give you 11 steps in total. So my 10th step, it could be, again, a really simple thing as an employer that you could do, such as look at the work environment that your staff are working in. If they work in a fairly dark and dingy office, look at the lighting. Can you remove blinds to get natural daylight in just to sort of make sure that, again, people are sort of getting that sort of bit of a dopamine hit? It might be that the workplace is poorly designed. So just simply rearranging, you know, maybe putting a pot plant in. It sounds really silly, but it can go a long, long way in making, you know, individuals feel that they are, like, really valued and that they can, you know, sort of put in their best for you that way. A big one really, again, that you can do is - and I've had experience with this fairly recently - is provide good solid IT solutions because there's nothing worse than if you want something to go really nice and quickly and you've got a big glitch in your IT systems. It makes you just want to throw your computer out of the window. Now, on a normal day, that's absolutely fine. We all want to do that. But if you've got somebody who's already suffering from mental health issues, you know, it can be something that can really tip somebody over the edge. So, again, as an employer, you know, look at your office layout, your lighting, your IT solutions some simple things like that that you can pick up on that can make a huge difference to those individuals. And then finally, what's now my 11th step, is really lead by example. If you're a burnt-out manager or supervisor yourself you're not sending a very good message to your staff. So again, if you feel that you are starting to struggle, make sure you recognise that and get help. Make sure that you are setting a good example to your staff and, you know, really promote positive mental health within the workplace.
Duncan
Fantastic, Rachel. Eleven out of ten for you! Any final thoughts just before we wrap up?
Rachel
So really the most important thing I'd say is to value and respect employees as individuals. Creating a supportive and understanding atmosphere, you know, any business will enhance well-being, foster loyalty and will help drive organisational business success.
Duncan
Okay, well listen, that's been brilliant. Thank you, Rachel, very much for your valuable insights on enhancing mental health at work, and implementing some of Rachel's advice is sure to reap rewards in your workplace. So, thank you again, Rachel.
Rachel
Very welcome.
Duncan
And just finally, for more information about our range of products relating to health and safety, some of which are now powered by AI, please do visit www.lefebvre-uk.co.uk or call us on 01233 653500. But for now, thank you very much for spending some time with us.

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