Emotional Health in the Workplace 

As part of The Centre for Emotional Health’s workplace offer, I have spent the last few months out and about engaging with a wide range of organisations across different sectors. It has been fascinating to hear what the current concerns and pressing issues for workplaces are (these include managing hybrid and remote working, neurodiversity in the workplace, and issues relating to AI).

More generally, most approaches to supporting workplaces tend to either focus on providing managers with skills to spot signs and symptoms of mental ill-health or they focus on well-being offers, such as discounted gym membership, pizzas on a Friday, …etc. Our emotional health offer focuses much more on equipping staff with skills and strategies to manage the ups and downs of everyday life at work. As such, it tends to be more transformational and preventative than most traditional workplace interventions. In effect, our offer is the missing piece in all of this.  

Encouragingly, a huge emphasis is currently being placed on employee wellbeing and promoting a flexible and family-friendly working approach. Interestingly though, relatively few organisations are framing this in the context of organisational needs. It seems to me that it is a huge risk not to place enough priority on the needs of the organisation. Sometimes these individual and organisational needs are aligned and sometimes they are very different – however, the key is to try to ensure that both are met. This sounds simple – the reality is that it’s often very tricky. There are many complex, and often hidden, factors at play – including employees’ differing motivations, attitudes, and requirements of the workplace and vice versa for organisations. 

Despite the emphasis on staff wellbeing, there is a growing understanding that any initiatives in this area will be of little use if they do not take place in the context of the organisational culture. It is certainly of very little benefit if employees are offered free yoga sessions within a workplace culture where relationships are not valued and staff are disempowered. It’s the foundations that make the difference – and of course, they tend to take more time and a lot more effort to achieve. There is increasing clarity amongst employees and employers around what needs to be in place for all to thrive. It seems to me that this is, in essence a culture of care, empathy and clarity where people feel valued, connected and purposeful. 

We all know that the world of work has changed drastically since the pandemic, and it is continuing to do so. It is apparent that organisations are continually adapting and working out what works best for their organisation and its employees and customers. Another current topic is that of differing generations in the workplace. (As I write that, I’m aware that even the word “workplace” has a different meaning for many post-pandemic!). There is a lot of talk about the motivations of different generations in the workplace. Many people are stating that one of the priorities for “Gen Z” is being in an organisation or setting whose mission and values align with their own. There is also a perception that this is different for, e.g. many “baby boomers” or “Gen X”. Of course, there may well be generalisations here and it is difficult to extrapolate how much of this is, in fact, age-related. However, it is certainly a hot topic at the moment.    

In 2025, more than 6% of the UK population is on long term sick leave – this is the highest it has ever been. We know that a huge proportion of this percentage is due to mental ill health. It may be that some of this is due to an increasing openness around discussing mental health, i.e. previously, this may have been masked by staff reporting, for example, a bad back when the real issue was anxiety or depression. However, it is obvious that our nation is in the middle of a mental health crisis and that this has a huge impact on the workplace. An employee off work for more than 6 months has a 90% chance of never returning.  

As I reflected earlier in this piece, emotional health is the missing piece in the current offer available to workplaces. It is not about managing mental ill health and it is not about offering fairly superficial benefits. It is about skilling up the workforce with strategies and tools to manage the ups and downs of everyday life at work – not only to avoid mental health problems further down the line and the subsequent emotional and financial costs to all, it is also about the value of good workplace experiences. Evidence tells us that good quality work is therapeutic, and that positive work experience can be a significant predictor of life satisfaction. As well as clearly being beneficial for employees, this is conducive to meeting the needs of organisations too.

Rowen Smith, Director of Training
The Centre for Emotional Health