Centre for Mental Health

Workplace Resources

These are a few of the resources available to help employers with issues around mental health. There's more information on Mindful Employer.

Mentally healthy workplaces

Working for Wellness,
the Mental Health & Employment Hub for London

This website is a guide to finding a job and keeping a job. It is also a starting point for making your workplace better for everyone’s mental wellbeing and dispelling some of the myths around people with mental health difficulties and their abilities.

Run by the London Mental Health and Employment Partnership, this site features a wide range of resources and can answer questions about mental health and employment.

Working it Out

Shift's Working it Out is a new resource designed to help employers raise awareness of mental health in the workplace, and to help them to  support a member of staff who becomes unwell.

It includes a brand new set of employment films - complete with training notes and resources - as well as Shift's existing films and documents for employers.

Open Your Mind

Open Your Mind supports employers to create a better working environment for staff and improve employment rates for people with mild, moderate and severe mental health conditions. It aims to raise awareness throughout the NHS of the recognised benefits to patients, staff and organisations of employing and retaining staff with mental health conditions.

The site is run by NHS Employers. Open Your Mind has been developed collaboratively with the NHS Confederation Mental Health Network and National Mental Health Development Unit and is endorsed by Unison and Time to Change.

Mental health and well-being at the workplace – protection and inclusion in challenging times

The WHO has published a report on mental health and well-being in the workplace. It suggests ways to respond to the challenges that modern working life presents to mental health and well-being and to overcome barriers to employment for people with mental health problems.

It also discusses opportunities for integration and empowerment given the global economic downturn. Prof. Bob Grove contributed a chapter.

Other resources

NICE guidance on promoting mental wellbeing through productive and healthy working conditions (2009).

The NICE guidance on promoting physical activity in the workplace - there is a connection between physical and mental health.

HSE's Management Standards for work-related stress.

Business in the Community has published a set of case studies featuring companies talking about their experiences of making the workplace healthy: Healthy People = Healthy Profits.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has a resource on the different approaches companies can take to tackle stress, one of which is wellbeing.

There are lots more resources on the Health, Work and Wellbeing site. Many of these documents were used in or resulted from the Government Response to Dame Carol Black's review of the health of working age people.

Helping employees

Time to Change - Support in the workplace

This site from Time to Change is designed to help people who have experienced discrimination because of mental health problems to make sure that the law protects them in the way that it should. Employees and employers can also find out more about mental health issues in the workplace, and how to stay well at work.

Helping employers

Line Manager's Resource from Shift

Shift's Line Managers' Resource is a practical guide for managing and supporting people experiencing  mental health problems at work. Visit their website for more information.

Acas advice on spotting mental health problems at work

Acas, the employment advisory body, has advice on how to spot and deal with mental health problems at work.

The organisation has also launched a new booklet on Health, work and wellbeing (HWWB) - Is work good for your health? with tips for employers on how to create a healthy workplace.

Financial support for employers

You may be able to access the government’s Access to Work scheme which will reimburse you all or part of the costs involved of making reasonable adjustments necessary for a disabled person to do their job. In the case of an employee with a mental health problem this could include a support worker who would meet regularly with both you and your employee. The following Access to Work materials provide further information about the scheme for both employers and employees.

Download a poster on the scheme for employees

(74 KB)

Download a leaflet on the scheme for employees

(228 KB)

Download a leaflet summarising the Access to Work service(1 MB)

Download a factsheet on Access to Work grants

(74 KB)