Great Britain: almost 13 million workdays were lost due to mental health issues

At the end of October, the U.K.’s government agency responsible for workplace health, safety and welfare, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), reported that in fiscal year 2018-2019, 12.8 million sick days were taken due to stress, anxiety, or depression, marking a slight increase from fiscal year 2014-2015, albeit not significantly so. Indeed the proportion of employees suffering mental illness was reported at 1,800 per 100,000, and has remained stable since the previous fiscal period. Employees in the 35-44 age group are most affected with females more susceptible than males. The main reasons for mental un-wellness are given as overwork (44%), lack of support (14%), threats and violence (13%), and occupational or professional change (8%). Other unspecified causes account for 21%. After reporting on these numbers that were drawn from the Labour Force Survey (here) the HSE has called on the government to take action. Subject matter experts have nonetheless suggested that the predominance of the mental health factor (which at 54% is the primary cause for sick leave notifications) can also be explained by the fact that employees are for the first time daring to state that their work absences are down to mental suffering.