MENTAL HEALTH Retention Challenges
Some job roles appear to be harder hit. Anonymous group Production is Broken recently polled almost 1,000 production management professionals. Over three quarters said that they had either left the role, or considered leaving, citing “pay inequality, working conditions, departmental welfare, skills shortages and increasing workloads.”
The irony can’t be lost on the TV industry, that this situation exists alongside a drive to retain and recruit a larger and more diverse workforce.
There are legal responsibilities. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 includes a right to work in properly controlled health and safety environments, which extends to mental health. And studies have shown that over half of all time lost at work is due to work-related stress and mental health issues. The Health and Safety Executive sees prevention of stress and mental health as a top priority.
Meriel Beale is an unscripted executive producer who was a driving force behind Bectu’s anti bullying campaign, Unseen on screen. “I am an optimist, I think things have shifted,” says Beale. “People are not just talking about things, they are making changes.” But she still sees grass roots pain. As a Bectu rep, Beattie is in touch with freelancers. One says: “Desperate to shout
about how angry it makes me, but also don’t want to put myself in a vulnerable position now I need work.” Others talk about tick-box exercises. “We don’t need guided meditation sessions or Prosecco and painting or mental health terrarium workshops. We need transparency, communication, decent pay and actual mental health services.”
Beale worries that freelancers are unable to budget, to plan their lives and may leave the industry. “The dream, I suppose, is to have some kind of retainer system…So indies have got this ready-to-go workforce.”
The challenges can be similar for those on a company payroll. Zeb Chadfield founded post production house The Finish Line in 2011. Before that, having worked in post since the age of 15, he suffered from a mental health breakdown after working excessively long hours on staff. “One cause of the problems is that it’s an industry in production and post that is built on exploitation,” he says. “Ultimately, young people that are really enthusiastic, that love the work, would do anything to be successful, at the cost of their own personal life, their relationships, their friendships and everything else.”
ANALYSIS
An eight hour day is a pillar to Chadfield’s business. The company’s Talk Club uses prompts on Slack to check in with staff: ‘how are you feeling today’ or ‘what win have you had this week?’ His own experience as a dyslexic has given him insight into neurodivergence, but he realises that there are different issues for everyone. “Ultimately if you fix it for the people that are struggling, you make it better for everyone.”
“It is economically, I would say more difficult, because you’re leaving money on the table,” says Chadfield. Where another company might assign someone five days for a task that takes seven, “from a business standpoint they are able to compact more work into a smaller period of time, even though the metrics don’t really work out.” He doesn’t want his staff to collapse after 14-hour days. “I need to make sure they find joy outside of work as well.”
“I don’t want my staff to collapse after 14- hour days. I need to make sure they find joy outside of work as well.”
Zeb Chadfield, The Finish Line
Summer 2023
televisual.com 29
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