Mental health and well-being practices, outcomes and productivity: A causal analysis
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Warwick Business School
Abstract
The 'productivity gap' between the UK and its international competitors has been widely discussed. In 2019 UK productivity was 83 per cent of that in France and the US and 86 per cent that of Germany. In 2020, UK industry productivity growth rates were also negative, potentially exacerbating the pre-pandemic productivity gap. OECD evidence also suggests that mental health in the UK may have been particularly seriously impacted by the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2020 the proportion of people experiencing anxiety rose in a number of countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France and the UK) with the UK registering the highest level of anxiety of any country studied in 2020 - 33 per cent (OECD 2021, Figure 1.20, p. 179). This pattern is likely to have exacerbates the pre-pandemic, productivity costs of poor mental health and well-being in the UK, which were estimated at £42bn - £45bn.
Despite the scale of the impact of poor employee mental health and productivity we know little about the outcomes (causal effects) when employers implement mental health and well-being practices on employees' mental health and well-being and even less about the causal mechanisms through which poor MH&W influences firm-level productivity. The 2020 Australian Productivity Commission report on mental health concluded, for example, that 'there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of these interventions ... there has been difficulty in establishing the effectiveness of different programs and initiatives' (Productivity Commission, 2020, p. 342).
Our ambitious aim here is to address this gap in our understanding and to establish the causal mechanisms through which firms' adoption of mental health and well-being (MH&W) practices can benefit productivity and productivity improvement. Which MH&W practices have the greatest benefit for employee mental health? Which have the greatest benefit for employee well-being? And, how do these effects impact firm-level productivity? Understanding these linkages is critical both during the recovery from Covid-19 and its attendant mental health impacts and in building higher and sustainable productivity in future years.
Our study adopts an inter-disciplinary and mixed-methods approach integrating perspectives from management studies and economics relating to the productivity benefits of the adoption of management practices with insights from work and occupational psychology relating to the well-being benefits of employers' actions. Our methodological approach is longitudinal involving a mix of econometric, statistical and observational research methods. Capitalising on and developing existing data sources we will follow around 1500 firms across the East and West Midlands of England through the lifetime of the grant and examine the activities and well-being of work groups and individuals within these firms. Longitudinal analysis - both qualitative and quantitative - will allow causal relationships to be established, i.e. activities in period 1 leading to outcomes in subsequent periods.
This project will compliment another major project - the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) - to which the Nottingham and Warwick teams are also contributing (https://mhpp.me/) funded by the Midlands Engine. Study findings will contribute to the literatures on management practices, occupational health and firm level productivity improvement. Project outcomes will guide employers in supporting good employee mental health and well-being and so contribute to productivity improvement. Outcomes will also be relevant to support organisations working with businesses to develop healthy workplaces and productivity upgrading and the project is strongly supported by a range of public and private sector organisations (see letters of support).
Despite the scale of the impact of poor employee mental health and productivity we know little about the outcomes (causal effects) when employers implement mental health and well-being practices on employees' mental health and well-being and even less about the causal mechanisms through which poor MH&W influences firm-level productivity. The 2020 Australian Productivity Commission report on mental health concluded, for example, that 'there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of these interventions ... there has been difficulty in establishing the effectiveness of different programs and initiatives' (Productivity Commission, 2020, p. 342).
Our ambitious aim here is to address this gap in our understanding and to establish the causal mechanisms through which firms' adoption of mental health and well-being (MH&W) practices can benefit productivity and productivity improvement. Which MH&W practices have the greatest benefit for employee mental health? Which have the greatest benefit for employee well-being? And, how do these effects impact firm-level productivity? Understanding these linkages is critical both during the recovery from Covid-19 and its attendant mental health impacts and in building higher and sustainable productivity in future years.
Our study adopts an inter-disciplinary and mixed-methods approach integrating perspectives from management studies and economics relating to the productivity benefits of the adoption of management practices with insights from work and occupational psychology relating to the well-being benefits of employers' actions. Our methodological approach is longitudinal involving a mix of econometric, statistical and observational research methods. Capitalising on and developing existing data sources we will follow around 1500 firms across the East and West Midlands of England through the lifetime of the grant and examine the activities and well-being of work groups and individuals within these firms. Longitudinal analysis - both qualitative and quantitative - will allow causal relationships to be established, i.e. activities in period 1 leading to outcomes in subsequent periods.
This project will compliment another major project - the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) - to which the Nottingham and Warwick teams are also contributing (https://mhpp.me/) funded by the Midlands Engine. Study findings will contribute to the literatures on management practices, occupational health and firm level productivity improvement. Project outcomes will guide employers in supporting good employee mental health and well-being and so contribute to productivity improvement. Outcomes will also be relevant to support organisations working with businesses to develop healthy workplaces and productivity upgrading and the project is strongly supported by a range of public and private sector organisations (see letters of support).
Publications
Jibril H
(2022)
From adversity to advice: Survival threats as a trigger for sustained engagement with external business support in small firms
in International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship
Hassard J
(2023)
The Routledge Companion to Mental Health at Work
Blake H
(2023)
Training for line managers should focus on primary prevention of mental ill-health at work.
in Perspectives in public health
Hassard J
(2022)
Understanding Stress and Wellbeing at Work: A Leadership Journey
Wishart M.
(2023)
Workplace Mental Health in Midlands firms 2022: Baseline Report
Wishart M
(2022)
Workplace mental health in rural non-farm businesses
Title | Mental health and workplace wellbeing and productivity in Midlands firms |
Description | A longitudinal survey dataset of information on employers experience of mental health and workplace wellbeing before during and after the Covid-19 pandemic with Irish and Swedish benchmark comparison surveys in 2023. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Since early 2020, the Enterprise Research Centre has been researching the employer perspective on workplace mental health. Mental health issues are widespread and can have serious consequences, both for the individuals experiencing them and for the businesses employing these individuals, and these impacts have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our data provides insight from before and during the pandemic into Midlands employers' experiences of workplace mental health challenges in three waves of data. The first wave of data collection concluded just before the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020 and covered 1,899 Midlands firms, and the second wave of data surveyed 1,551 firms, also Midlands-based, in early 2021.This latest report covers the period in 2021/22 when restrictions were starting to be lifted, and working practices, heavily disrupted at the height of the pandemic, were beginning to return to normal. This wave of data was collected from 1,904 firms between January and May 2022. As the country started to emerge from the pandemic, our analysis identifies six key findings: 1. Mental health sickness absence is now increasing, having declined at the height of the pandemic. Mental health-related sickness absence was reported by 26.4 per cent of firms in 2022, up from 24.5 per cent in 2021, although it has not yet regained the pre-pandemic level of 30.5 per cent. This is likely to reflect a return to pre-pandemic working practices. 2. Presenteeism is now creeping back up, having declined at the height of the pandemic. We also note that the reasons for presenteeism are complex and can vary depending on the sector and size of the firm. While more employers appear to be addressing these working hours issues by investigating the causes or providing training on presenteeism for staff, and even a small number also reporting leader role modelling, more should be done. Understanding the different underlying reasons will be key to the ongoing development of effective interventions to address presenteeism in all its forms. 3. There is evidence of greater uptake of some key mental health-related initiatives. For example, more than 30 percent of all firms now have a mental health plan, up from around 27 per cent in 2021, and we also see a small increase in the proportion of firms with a mental health lead at board level. A common theme is that 6 larger firms (and those with multi-site operations) are more likely to adopt initiatives. Exploring these and other firm-level differences may be an important focus for future research to understand why some firms are more open to adopting mental health practices than others. 4. More firms are funding mental health initiatives and activities, but firms still rely on unbudgeted practices to manage workplace mental health issues. The proportion of firms said that they had a budget for the mental health initiatives they offered was up from just over a quarter in 2021 to nearly 32 per cent in 2022. But 70 per cent of firms remain without a dedicated mental health budget and this is reflected in a continued reliance on practice-based initiatives which are often delivered by untrained line managers. Nearly half of firms still do not train their line managers in delivering the mental health initiatives they offer, and research suggests that this can be detrimental for the mental health of these individuals. 5. More firms are evaluating their mental health initiatives - and identifying benefits. We see variation in the kinds of firms that do evaluate their activities, with hospitality and services firms much more likely to evaluate their activities than production, construction and wholesale/retail firms. Larger firms were more likely to say that they evaluate their mental health activities. Firms that evaluated their activities reported a range of employee-related positives including improved stress management, increased job satisfaction, and lower metal health-related absence. Firms also reported many positive business outcomes including improved staff recruitment, better customer service, better staff retention and stronger business performance. 6. There remains much room for improvement in firm-level responses to workplace mental health issues, and getting it right will be vital to address the substantial increase in mental health issues that the pandemic has undoubtedly driven. Our findings provide some cause for optimism that employers are more engaged with metal health issues, however there is still much to do to improve firm-level approaches to workplace mental health. In particular, encouraging employers to invest in training for line managers, and to fund initiatives to support the mental health and wellbeing of their employees, will be important as we continue to emerge from the pandemic. As employer attention shifts towards the cost of living crisis, it is to be hoped that they will continue to commit to giving staff the mental health support they need. |
URL | https://www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ERC-Report-WORKPLACE-MENTAL-HEALTH-I... |
Description | Mental Health and Productivity Pilot |
Organisation | University of Nottingham |
Department | School of Medicine |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Our survey data continues to provide benchmark data for this wider Midlands project which is supporting mental health and wellbeing in Midlands organisations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Supporting mental health and well-being in Midlands organisations. Providing direct advice and support to businesses. Testing a range of firm-level interventions to support workplace well being. |
Impact | This collaboration led to a re-orientation of support measures during the Covid-19 crisis to help support workplace wellbeing during hte pandemic. This collaboration involves researchers and practicioners from economics, management studies, psychology and occupational health. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | ERC Research Showcase 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | In this Showcase, ERC put a spotlight on the work we are doing in partnership with other organisations, starting with a presentation on our research on workplace mental health and well-being funded by the ESRC (working with the Universities of Cork and Nottingham). We also presented the research we are doing on rural SMEs with the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE), and on internationalisation with the ESRC Productivity Institute and Lloyds Centre for Business Prosperity. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Emotion work as a coping strategy for line managers dealing with employee mental health issues |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Emotion work as a coping strategy for line managers dealing with employee mental health issues Maria Wishart Many employers rely on untrained managers to deal with mental health issues in their employees. This research adopts an emotion work lens to examine line managers' accounts of workplace mental health issues, to explore the ways in which these individuals experience, and cope with, the management of mental health issues in their staff. In examining the experiences of line managers dealing with workplace mental health issues, this paper offers insight into inclusion in the workplace for the employees experiencing these issues. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity - New funding for the Midlands region |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Joint webinar by The Midlands Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) and the Enterprise Research Centre: Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity - New funding for the Midlands region This online briefing on Tuesday 18th October ( 10.00 - 11.30) is aimed specifically at organisations and individuals who work with Midlands-based businesses. It will give information about two ground-breaking Midlands-focused research programmes that are working with employers to shed light on how mental health practice impacts productivity and developing support for employers and employees through free, evidence-based interventions designed to help staff stay mentally well. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity in the Midlands |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Maria Wishart delivered a presentation at the 'Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity in the Midlands' event on 18th October, jointly organised by the MHPP and ERC. The event was aimed at organisations and individuals working with Midlands based employers to raise awareness of two new Midlands focused ground-breaking mental health research programmes. One of these programmes is being led by the ERC, a three-year study that is addressing the link between employee mental health and well-being and productivity outcomes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | National Food and Drink Summit 2023: NICRE resilience toolkit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | ERC's Maria Wishart is running a resilience session and demonstrating the NICRE Resilience Toolkit at this event for food and drink SMEs across England to support their growth and resilience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Resilience in small business leaders and the link to resilience planning in their firms |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Resilience in small business leaders and the link to resilience planning in their firms Maria Wishart, Halima Jibril, Stephen Roper In this paper, we consider the links between the psychological resilience of entrepreneurs and the resilience of the firms they lead. We consider whether high levels of entrepreneurial psychological resilience are linked to firms' adoption of business resilience planning. We also explore whether the effect of psychological resilience may differ for entrepreneurs based in deprived areas. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | What Crisis? Business Resilience and Risk Planning in Rural SMEs in Three English Regions |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | What Crisis? Business Resilience and Risk Planning in Rural SMEs in Three English Regions - Best paper -Rural Enterprise track Maria Wishart, Kevin Mole This paper examines the link between rural SMEs' strategic planning activities and their likelihood to engage in resilience planning. Research has found that rural firms are significantly less likely to undertake general business planning than their urban counterparts (NICRE 2022). Understanding whether rural firms also approach resilience planning differently will extend our understanding of rural enterprise, to inform policy and practice in this area. We estimate the likelihood that the businesses are unlikely to plan for adversity which has consequences for resilience and business survival. The aim of the research was to understand the firm-level and location-related factors that impact the degree of resilience planning undertaken by rural SMEs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | a Resilience Masterclass for rural SMEs at the Rural Design Centre |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Maria Wishart, ERC Research Fellow, ran a Resilience Masterclass for rural SMEs at the Rural Design Centre in Morpeth on 17th January. This masterclass was designed to help business leaders to better understand the importance of business resilience, and to introduce them to the ERC/NICRE Resilience Toolkit. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |