//How to Optimise Workplace Mental Health & Why It’s Important

Trigger warning: this blog mentions suicide.

Whilst many businesses are geared to identifying and mitigating physical risks, why do only a small percentage do the same for mental health risks?

This is despite the fact that, ‘employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by doing a risk assessment and acting on it. This is the same duty you have to protect people from other health and safety risks.’ 

Worryingly, our survey found that 70% of respondents said that their line managers would not know how to undertake stress risk assessments or when they may be necessary.

With Mental Health Awareness Week (11-17 May) and Men’s Health Awareness Week (15-21 June), it has never been more vital that we dedicate time to learn what we, as employers, colleagues and community members, can do to build positive mental health in and through work.

//What Are the Statistics on Mental Health?

• The Health and Safety Executive found that 19% of construction self-reported work-related ill health (new and long standing) was due to stress, depression or anxiety.
• The 2025 CIOB report found that:
  • 58% of respondents experienced stress, 50% experienced anxiety and 21% experienced depression ‘often’ i.e., daily or weekly.
  • 27% of construction workers had experienced thoughts of suicide at some point in the previous year.
• A study by The National Federation of Builders found that:
  • 1 in 4 construction workers consider themselves to be neurodiverse (having a neurodiverse condition), with 17% having a formal diagnosis.
  • ADHD has been found to be the most common neurodiverse condition amongst construction workers (accounting for 54% of neurodiverse workers).
• In 2021, 507 construction workers died by suicide (ONS).
• The Supply Chain Sustainability School report found that:
  • Deaths by suicide were 80% higher in male low-skilled construction workers than in the general population.
  • The risk of suicide among some site based male construction workers was three times the national average.

//Why Don’t We Notice When Someone is Experiencing Mental Ill-Health?

If you notice a physical change in someone, for example, they are coughing and sneezing, or have a plaster cast on their leg, you would know they had a physical ailment or disability, you would ask if they are ok and discuss what support you can provide. But would you notice if someone was experiencing mental ill-health or a mental illness? If you did notice, would you feel uncomfortable and more likely to overlook them, because it was a mental rather than physical condition? 

It is all too easy to miss what is going on around us when we are experiencing a heavy workload or under pressure to meet a deadline. This could result in us missing a formal catch up, for example, during a one-to-one or team meeting, or an informal chat during a lunch break. But, as we saw above, if you are a line manager, you have a duty to undertake individual stress risk assessments and act on them, i.e., to make reasonable work adjustments (if required) and provide ongoing support to the team member.

This means that if you are in a position with managerial responsibilities, it is essential to keep up those regular check-ins with everyone in your team. This is important because stress doesn’t sit in isolation – it shapes how people think, feel, behave, and perform at work. Therefore, in addition to being a legal and moral duty, it is also a core business issue, because it drives engagement, turnover, innovation, creativity, and collaboration.

Mental health can vary across an hour, day, week, month and year. How someone exhibits mental ill-health also varies. Therefore, the key is to know what signs to look out for, be able to identify when someone is not behaving as they usually would and have the confidence to start a conversation about it.

Everyone benefits when the whole team knows how to spot the signs and start a conversation – watch these short videos for further information: https://www.matesinmind.org/training-and-resources/information-and-resources

//What Can Cause Work-Related Mental Ill-Health?

The causes, and how they impact on someone, vary by organisation, the individual and their line manager. However, the following can impact on our mental and physical health: long and irregular hours; working away from home; tight deadlines; late payments and economic insecurity; lone working, isolation and lack of support; intense physical work; working outside in all weather conditions etc.

Our survey of SME and sole traders working in the construction sector found that:

• I worry that my workload is too high (42% experiencing this frequently).
• I feel low because of my business partners/colleagues (37%).
• I feel low because of pressure at work (35%).
• I feel anxious about family or relationship problems (33%).
• I feel stressed by financial problems or debt (32%).
• Other concerns included impact that work has on family life and worries about being hurt or injured at work.

The Supply Chain Sustainability School report also found that stressors arose from the fast-paced and dynamic nature of project-based work, including ‘competing constraints arising from schedules, stakeholders and budgetary restrictions’. Excessive workload, poor job control, reduced social and emotional support systems, lack of good communications or clarity in task arrangements, and role conflict were also identified.

In addition, it comes down to whether your line managers are inhibitors (i.e., they simply manage and/or create stress) or enablers (i.e., they help your team to thrive in the workplace through leading, inspiring and coaching).

//What Can We Do to Build Positive Mental Health?

At Mates in Mind, we advocate for a focus on prevention, i.e., proactive interventions, in order to provide support before someone reaches the point of crisis. Proactive interventions should be both organisation wide (for example, organisational culture, policies, management) and at employee level (for example, upskilling all workers).

If you are ready to create a culture where stress factors are identified and mitigated, where people openly talk about mental health and seek support when they need it, then you need to:

• Start by getting management buy in (along with their support and leadership).
• Ensure you continually assess where you are on your mental health journey and fill any gaps you identify.
• Equip leaders, managers and HR to identify and mitigate the factors negatively impacting on mental health.
• Ensure all employees have an understanding of psychological first aid.
• Create internal peer networks.

Please read our blog ‘How to optimise mental wellbeing through workplace culture’ for more details on these steps.

Also, read Pinewood Structures blog on the Mental Health Benefits of Offsite Construction.