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The Workplace Health Insights series brings you the latest healthcare trends, interviews with medical experts and specialist insight from Bupa: all designed to keep you and your organisation one step ahead.
For the latest insights on the impacts of hybrid working on health and wellbeing, take a look here.
Mental Health: An evolving challenge
The complexity of the pandemic’s impact on the nation’s mental health is still emerging with the Office for National Statistics finding one in five adults struggling with symptoms of depression.
During the pandemic 2.2 million adults sought help from the NHS for their mental health with experts warning the terrifying mental health crisis is likely to get worse before it gets better.
Making it easier for employees to access support has been a vital trend and employers have also been focusing on policies that build resilience and encourage people to seek help.
Digital treatment has evolved rapidly and Bupa’s Direct Access service – a 24/7 telephone pathway to specialist mental health support, and their online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in partnership with SilverCloud Health, alongside counselling and psychiatry via telephone and video consultations.
Research shows employees value mental health support offered through the workplace and it can often be a strong reason to join or remain with a business, while staff suffering with depression symptoms can see productivity drop significantly.
But Pablo Vandenabeele, Clinical Director for Mental Health at Bupa, warns the trend toward increasing working from home has its own challenges: “This new flexibility brings a new set of risks around burnout, the ongoing issue of blurred boundaries between work lives and home lives, and how employers can support their people — wherever they are working.”
This article has been abbreviated by Health & Protection. The full article can be found as part of the Workplace Health Insights series from Bupa, on the impacts of hybrid working on health and wellbeing, take a look here.