Thriving at Work Bristol
Do you work in the nightlife sector?
Thrive at Night provides information about mental health and wellbeing support and resources, to help you ‘Thrive at Night’. Find out more here.
Evaluating the impact of Thrive at Work on workplace mental health and wellbeing
Thrive at Work West of England has had a positive impact on workplace mental health in Bristol and the West of England region – read our evaluation report to find out more.
Responding to the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of our workforce
Building on Thriving at Work in Bristol, the Thrive at Work West of England programme was developed to offer businesses and their staff, help to respond to mental health concerns in the workplace, particularly those arising from Covid-19.
The package of support includes resources, tools and training, including:
- Free e-Learning ‘Managing Mental Health at Work’ course for managers in Small and Medium sized businesses (0-250 staff) to equip them with the confidence and skills to have supportive conversations with their staff about mental health and wellbeing
- Guidance for business leaders to adopt the Mental Health at Work Commitment and implement Mental Health at Work Standards.
- Support to create Wellness Action Plans using templates developed by Mind
- Free suicide prevention training and Covid-19 psychological first aid training
- Resources shared by local businesses to help smaller companies learn from their experience of what works to improve mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Sharing good practice: Here’s what some employers in the City say about the importance of supporting the mental health of the workforce, particularly in these challenging times.
Find out more here: Thrive at Work West of England
This programme was developed in collaboration with the partners involved in Thriving at Work Bristol (pictured below), whose leadership, commitment and contribution have made this work possible. Also with partners in the Covid-19 Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Group, including Business West, FSB, Mind, the Unions and others.
It is delivered by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), in partnership with Bristol City Council and the councils in North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset.
It is estimated that poor mental health among employees costs UK employers £42bn – £45bn each year9. This is made up of absence costs of around £7bn, presenteeism costs ranging from about £27bn to £29bn and turnover costs of around £9bn
It is estimated that over £280 million is lost each year by businesses and employers in Bristol due to absenteeism, reduced productivity and staff turnover due to mental health issues10.
Organisation wide culture change, including training and awareness raising, can provide a return on investment (ROI) of £6 for every £1 invested11
17.5 million days were lost due to mental health related reasons, in the UK, in 2018. That’s a reported increase of 4.2 million days since 200912
What are we doing?
Mental health can have a huge impact upon individuals, their employers and the wider economy. That’s why ‘Thriving at Work Bristol’ is bringing together organisations from across the city to improve the mental health and wellbeing of their employees, and to support other organisations to do the same.
Phase 1 Thriving at Work review and reports
- This work began in 2018 soon after the Stephenson / Farmer ‘Thriving at Work’ review of mental health and employers was published.
- A ‘Thriving at Work Bristol’ Taskgroup of 25 public, private and voluntary organisations was created, chaired by Bristol Mind and Burges Salmon.
- This group included leads from Deloitte, Rolls Royce, Windmill Hill City Farm, the NHS and unions and they identified good practice in Bristol, and shared ideas on how to improve mental health and wellbeing at scale, creating the ‘Thriving at Work Bristol’ report.
Phase 2 Action focussed
- The second phase of this work was launched at our conference in November 2019. The slides from the conference are here.
- This phase is action focused, with partners spending a year testing and learning from interventions which aim to improve mental health and wellbeing in workplaces. Based on the outcomes, our intention is for successful initiatives to be rolled out at scale.
- Three action groups have been created to support this, one focusing on culture (led by Ovo’s Trading Director, Stephen Harris), one on leadership (led by Deloitte’s senior tax partner, Adam Powell), and one on policy (led by Hargreaves Lansdown’s HR lead Karen Cooke) – all pictured here with Burges Salmon partner, Patrick Robinson.
- This work will focus on supporting organisations in Bristol with limited capacity, such as SMEs and community organisations. Further information can be found here.
Mental Health at Work Commitment
- The Mental Health at Work Commitment was launched in the UK in October 2019 and is a set of actions, organised into 6 Core Standards, that any organisation can follow to improve and support mental health in their workplace.
- Prioritise mental health in the workplace by developing and delivering a systematic programme of activity
- Proactively ensure work design and organisation culture drive positive mental health outcomes
- Promote an open culture around mental health
- Increase organisations; confidence and capability
- Provide mental health tools and support
- Increase transparency and accountability through internal and external reporting
- Bristol was the first city in the country to sign up and Thrive Bristol is linking with the national Thriving at Work Leadership Council and mental health charity Mind, to encourage all organisations to sign up to the commitment and implement the 6 Core Standards.
- Here is a video and blog from Bristol’s Deputy Mayor Asher Craig encouraging all Bristol employers to join us in promoting good mental health and wellbeing in workplaces across the city.
- Click here: https://www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk/commitment to see the local employers who have already signed up to the Mental Health at Work Commitment including nearly 30 who signed at the time the commitment was launched.
Time to Change
- Bristol City Council is proud to have signed the Time to Change Employer Pledge and developed a comprehensive action plan to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination.
- By the end of 2019, over 40 local organisations have signed the pledge and more are planning to do so in 2020.
- The Time to Change Bristol Hub is hosted by the Thrive Bristol programme to supports the aims for Bristol to become a city free from mental health stigma and discrimination. The Hub has been working with employers, schools and organisations such as our sporting clubs, to create a stigma free city. More information is available here about the wider Time to Change programme.
Contact us:
If you would like to find out more about improving mental health and wellbeing in Bristol, or to get involved. Email: thrive.bristol@bristol.gov.uk
If you would like some support for your own mental health
Thrive Bristol does not provide mental health services – this is offered locally by the NHS and their partners. Information about local provision is available at Bristol Mental Health