Presentation by Catherine Kilfedder (British Telecom) on the occasion of the EESC SOC hearing on European year of mental health - Better work, better quality of life in Brussels on 30 October 2012

1. European Year of Mental Health
– Better Work, Better Quality of
Life
Catherine Kilfedder
BT Group Health Adviser
30 October 2012

2. Mental ill health and UK plc
• Accounts for nearly a
half of all absenteeism
• 70 million lost working
days each year
• 1 in 6 experiencing
depression, anxiety or
stress
• Costs £1,035 per
employee
• Reduces GDP by £52
billion a year
• Accounts for nearly half
of all people on
incapacity benefits

3. Absence management 2012
• The average days absent fallen from 7.7 days to 6.8 per
employee per year
• 33% employers report an increase in ‘presenteeism’
• 44% employers report an increase in mental health problems
• 40% employers report an increase in stress-related absence
• Minor illnesses by far the most common cause of short-term
absence
• Musculoskeletal injuries, back pain and stress next most
common
• Most common causes of long-term absence are stress, acute
medical conditions, mental ill health, musculoskeletal injuries
and back pain

4. Determinants of population mental health
Protective factors Risk factors
• Social capital and welfare • Poverty, poor education,
protection deprivation, high debt
• Healthy prenatal and • Poor prenatal nutrition,
childhood environment abuse, harsh upbringing,
• Healthy workplace and poor relationship to
living parents, intergenerational
• Healthy lifestyles transmission
• Unemployment, job
insecurity, job stress
• Alcohol and/or drug use

5. Work is generally good for physical and
mental health and well-being
• Financial wellbeing
• Central to individual
identity, social roles and
social status
• Main driver of social
gradients in physical and
mental health and
mortality

6. Being out of work is bad for physical and
mental health and wellbeing
• Higher mortality, poorer general health, poorer
mental health, higher medical consultation,
medication consumption and hospital admission rates
• Re-employment leads to improved self-esteem,
improved general and mental health, and reduced
psychological distress and minor psychiatric
morbidity

7. Health and Safety Executive management
standards for stress
• Demands: able to cope with the demands of their jobs.
• Control: able to have a say about the way they do their work.
• Support: receive adequate information and support from their
colleagues and superiors.
• Relationships: not subjected to unacceptable behaviours, e.g.
bullying at work.
• Role: understand their role and responsibilities.
• Change: the organisation engages employees frequently when
undergoing an organisational change

8. To what extent do working conditions help
trigger such illnesses?
• About 14% of days lost due to mental health
problems are attributed to work related mental ill
health
• Most common cause is workload
• Other top causes:
– Management style
– Relationships at work
– Organisational change/restructuring

9. Stigma and discrimination
• 1/3rd of people in the UK would
not be willing to work with
someone who has a mental
health problem
• 28% of UK employees believe
there is less stigma associated
with mental health issues in the
workplace than a year ago
• Why?:
– Better understanding of mental
health amongst peers and
colleagues 48%
– TV and press campaigns, such as
‘Time to Change’ 36%
– Celebrities talking openly about
their mental health 28%
– Government’s mental health
strategy 23%

10. European pact for Mental Health and
Wellbeing 2008
• Improve work organisation, organisational cultures
and leadership practices to promote mental wellbeing
at work
• Implement mental health and wellbeing programmes
with risk assessment, prevention and early
intervention
• Provide measures to support recruitment, retention,
rehabilitation and return to work of people with MH
problems

11. BiTC Workwell model

12. About BT - March 2012
UK Russia / CEE
North America
73,800 700
3,200
Western Europe
7,800
Asia Pac
Middle East 2,500
and Africa
Latin America 200
900
BT organisation
BT Retail *
BT Wholesale
BT Global Services * BT
Operate *
BT Innovate & Design
Openreach
* Global operations
89,100 FTE BT employees
2011/12 revenues: £19.3 billion

13. BT Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy

14. Good work Good Health: Good practice
guidelines
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Portuguese, Greek,
Swedish and Estonian

15. Positive manager behaviour framework
• Respectful and
responsible: managing
emotions and having
integrity
• Managing and
communicating existing
and future work
• Managing the individual in
the team
• Reasoning and managing
difficult situations

16. Better specialist support
Rehab
CBT
Tel, F2F
“OHS”
CCBT
Couns.
Guided
Self-help
Managing
Mental Stay at Work
Health Get back to Work
Move on with dignity
HR
LM

17. Managing mental health
97% said it increased their awareness and understanding of
mental health
said it increased their confidence in dealing with mental
91% problems
94% said it provided them with additional skills to deal with MH
problems
36% said they had reason to use the learning since they
attended
90% said it had been helpful or very helpful in their role as a
people manager

18. Supporting the individual
1. Building my well‐being
skills
Me
BT
BT
Community We
3. Doing well for the
community around me
2. Building the well‐being in
my team

20. © British Telecommunications plc