TROUBLE
ATTHEW HOLMAN, FOUNDER OF SIMPILA HEALTHY SOLUTIONS, a consultancy that addresses mental health issues in the workplace, is talking about his experience at work: “I never had anyone come up to me and say, ‘Are you okay? Do you want to take some time off?’ I never
IN MIND M
Do corporates need to do more to support the mental health and wellbeing of their travelling staff?
the annual cost of people underperforming at work because of poor mental health is estimated at £15.1 billion, or £605 per employee in the UK. It pays to keep tabs on business travellers'
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had that from any boss.” Holman, who worked in the travel business for 20 years before a redundancy triggered post- traumatic stress disorder, set up Simpila in order to improve awareness and support for business travellers suffering from mental health issues. The data for mental health in the UK makes for unsettling reading: one in four adults are affected by mental health issues every year, 49 per cent of work absences occur due to stress- related illnesses, 12.5 million working days were lost to work-related stress in 2016-17, and almost one-third (31 per cent) of UK employees said they would consider leaving their current role within the next 12 months if stress levels in their organisation did not improve. Basingstoke-based Holman maintains that UK industry needs to pay more attention to its mobile workforce. Stress impacts an employee's wellbeing and has considerable financial implications for businesses. Mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, account for almost 70 million days off sick per year – more than any other health condition – costing the UK economy £70-£100 billion per year. In addition,
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
wellbeing, says Holman. He has devised a straightforward, anonymous, ten-question Business Travel & Mental Health Survey (
surveymonkey.co.uk/r/XH28QZ7) that explores the mental health of business travellers. So far, its respondents have flagged up some worrying issues, most notably: ■ 49 per cent of respondents have either been diagnosed with, or have shown symptoms of, mental illness;
■ Of those who have/had a mental illness, 63 per cent suffered with depression, 44 per cent with an anxiety disorder and 29 per cent with stress;
■ 80 per cent of those who have/had mental health problems have not told their employer;
■ 74 per cent of the companies represented do not have a travel policy that includes supporting mental health.
REPETITIVE CYCLES “During my last year in the travel industry I would spend a week out of every month in the US on my own,” says Holman. “My hotel would be 500 metres down the street from my office and I would work more than my allotted hours before having dinner on my own – all my colleagues were going home to their families – and then I’d go back to my hotel. “It would just be this repetitive cycle and I was lucky I was pushed out of travel, in many ways,
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