Mental Health Absenteeism Costs Construction Sector £2.75bn A Year

• Together, UK tradespeople surveyed missed 2,631 weeks (equivalent to 50 and a half years) of work in 2022 combined due to mental ill health.
• 93% of UK tradespeople have been impacted by mental ill health.
• 64% of UK tradespeople surveyed reported misusing drugs, alcohol, or both drugs and alcohol in an attempt to mitigate symptoms of mental ill health.
• Almost half (48%) of UK tradespeople surveyed told us they knew at least one person who has left the industry due to mental ill health.

A new report from construction community On The Tools has revealed that absenteeism due to mental ill health is costing the construction industry almost £2.75 billion annually. The research found that two out of three UK tradespeople surveyed have missed time at work due to mental ill health, with 13.02% of tradespeople, more than one in ten, missing over one month of work in the last year.

The report, Behind the High-Vis: a Mental Health White Paper, uncovered that 7 in 10 UK tradespeople (69%) also reported experiencing low motivation as a symptom of their mental ill health, which could also impact both the quality and length of a typical job.

With a significant proportion of an employed tradesperson’s life being spent in the workplace, construction businesses have a critical role to play in both reducing the likelihood of mental ill health being experienced in the first instance and also supporting tradespeople when they do experience mental ill health.

Businesses also have a legal obligation to protect their workers’ mental and physical wellbeing: a “duty of care”. This means they must do all they reasonably can to support their employees' health, safety and wellbeing. However most UK tradespeople surveyed felt unsupported by their workplace when they were experiencing mental ill health.

The white paper makes a number of recommendations around how businesses can better support tradespeople experiencing mental ill health, including provision of counselling services, or making mental health first aiders available. 41% of all UK tradespeople surveyed reported that they would find the provision of free counselling by their workplace(s) to be a helpful system to support them when they experience mental ill health.
 
“I think over the past two to three years there has been a reduction in the stigma. A lot more tradespeople are openly talking. There has been a lot more support from companies who are employing mental health nurses in addition to tradespeople. They’ll train somebody up, basically, within the organisation. If this was widespread, the situation would probably improve. It’s a gateway - an offering, so people can talk if they want to.” Qualitative survey participant, Behind the High-Vis: an On The Tools Mental Health White Paper 2023 

Behind the High-Vis: a Mental Health White Paper was created by the UK’s largest and most engaged construction community, On The Tools, and supported by Band of Builders, Construction Sport, Dulux Academy, Dulux Select Decorators, Speedy, and TVL security, with useful input from other partners and case study participants, to explore the full scale and impact of mental ill health in the construction industry, as well as make informed recommendations to reduce the issue.

The study crucially found that 93% of UK tradespeople have been impacted by mental ill health in some way, with 73% of all UK tradespeople surveyed experiencing mental ill health right now or in the past. A further 20% hadn’t personally experienced mental ill health but knew another tradesperson who had.

Commenting on the findings of the whitepaper, CEO and Co-founder of On The Tools, Lee Wilcox, said: “There has been an alarming increase in mental ill health among the UK population for some time now. While significant steps have been made, and mental health is starting to be treated as seriously as physical health, it seems only recently that men as a demographic have been able to openly share their experiences with mental ill health to the extent they deserve. In an industry that men currently dominate, it’s no wonder that the construction sector is behind the times when treating our workforce’s mental health.

“This report proves, among other things, that untreated mental ill health has cost the UK a healthy and motivated construction industry workforce. The scale of this issue is now too pressing for the UK Government to ignore. We hope that the findings and recommendations of this report can enact real change and improve the health of our tradespeople.”

This white paper was supported by Band of Builders, Construction Sport, Dulux Academy, Dulux Select Decorators, Speedy, and TVL security: with useful input from other partners and case study participants.

Source :  On The Tools

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