The relationship between mental and physical health
- Health-related lost productivity is the costing the UK economy an estimated £77.5 billion a year.
- Employees engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviours have significantly reduced incidence of mental health problems.
- Employees with four or more musculoskeletal issues were twice as likely to suffer from work-related stress as those who were free from musculoskeletal concerns.
- Allowing employees the flexibility to juggle their commitments effectively can have positive results for their mental wellbeing.
Britain’s Healthiest Workplace was established in 2013 in response to the fact that many UK employers are failing to adequately invest in the health and wellbeing of their staff. Britain’s Healthiest Workplace is now one of the UK’s largest workplace health and wellbeing studies, which surveyed over 160 employers, and 32,000 employees in 2017. The survey has found that health-related lost productivity is the costing the UK economy an estimated £77.5 billion, which could be significantly reduced through adequate investment in health and wellbeing. The study has also found a correlation between mental and physical health, which are inextricably linked. More than half of the employees surveyed reported at least one work-related stress issue, with around a quarter reporting two or more, making it one of the most prevalent health issues facing the UK workforce. However, employees engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviours have significantly reduced incidence of mental health problems. For example, employees getting a healthy amount of exercise had less than half the incidence of depression compared to sedentary employees – just 1 in 22 physically active employees reported symptoms of depression, compared to 1 in 10 of those who were sedentary. This relationship also holds true when we analyse employees’ risk of musculoskeletal problems, however in this case work-related stress is the key driver. Employees with four or more musculoskeletal issues were twice as likely to suffer from work-related stress as those who were free from musculoskeletal concerns.
Employees can and arguably should look to introduce wellness programmes for their employees, to incentivise them to participate in healthy lifestyle behaviours that will improve their physical and mental health, whilst also benefitting the organisation’s productivity. The Vitality Wellness programme seeks to encourage high levels of engagement by all members, which ultimately results in positive lifestyle choices. The wellness programme gives members short term Active Rewards whereby the member earns physical activity points from counting their daily steps and longer term status goals to encourage a long term change of behaviour.
The relationships between physical and mental wellbeing are, of course, bi-directional – for example, on the one hand musculoskeletal pain may be a physical manifestation of work stress, while on the other lower resilience at times of high stress may mean that employees are unable to cope with physical ailments when they arise, resulting in heightened perceptions of musculoskeletal issues. Paradoxically, therefore, an important strategy in tackling mental health issues in the workplace may be, rather than focusing on interventions which seek to directly manage the issues themselves, to instead promote better lifestyle health, and address some of the correlated problems. For example, an employer may reduce stress levels amongst their employees through seemingly unrelated initiatives such as promoting a running club, or through the introduction of ergonomic workstations.
It is also crucial to focus on achieving a work-life balance and facilitating this for the employee. The sources of stress can arise from both individuals’ work and home lives, and allowing employees the flexibility to juggle their commitments effectively can have positive results for their mental wellbeing. Work-related stress was halved amongst those employees taking part in Britain’s Healthiest Workplace who had the ability to work flexibly, or work from home, should they need to. The VitalityAtWork team help to empower organisations to instil this behavioural change to build a healthier, more engaged and productive workforce, no matter what the business size. The team delivers workshops about physical activity and mental wellbeing to create a bespoke solution for you. They recognise that while remote and flexible working is becoming more popular, it will not be suitable for all workplaces, but they will provide firm building blocks for the organisation to enhance their employees’ wellbeing and to take a proactive approach.
