Mental Wellbeing

About mental wellbeing 

 

If you’re struggling with your mental health, then work can become difficult. And problems at work can have a negative impact on your confidence and stress levels, worsening your mental health.

However, there are steps you can take to improve your time at work and regain control of how you feel.

Experts at the What Works Centre for Wellbeing have identified five key factors — all picked from scientific research — which they believe have the biggest influence on workplace wellbeing.

 

• Health

Mental wellbeing can be hugely influenced by physical health issues such as illness, lifestyle choices and unhealthy habits. 

Getting enough exercise, sleeping for long enough and taking breaks at work can all contribute towards a better, and happier, work-life balance. 

Support from your line manager can help too, as it’s likely they will be able to put some adjustments in place to ensure you can work steadily and at the right pace.

 

• Relationships

Family, social and romantic relationships all play a big role in your wellbeing, but it’s easy to underplay the importance of relationships at work.

Feeling appreciated and part of a team can bring a sense of belonging, but feeling unappreciated or ignored is often at the opposite end of the spectrum – making you develop negative feelings toward an employer or colleagues.

Try to develop and maintain fair, supportive and respectful relationships at work and surround yourself with positivity.

 

 

• Security 

If you don’t feel that your employment is secure, it can become a constant worry that affects you in and out of work. 

Anxiety about redundancy, not getting enough shifts or your contract nearing its end might all affect how confident you feel about the future. Speaking to HR or a friend at work might help to relieve some of your worries. 

If external factors are making it harder for you to cope at work, our cost-free mental health support might be able to help. 

 

• Environment 

The conditions in which you work, or travel to work, can also affect your mental wellbeing.  

A cramped or noisy workplace, a lack of equipment or a stressful commute can contribute to negative feelings — as can working for an organisation or in a team where the values contrast with your own. 

 

• Purpose 

Having a sense of purpose is hailed by some as the key to our overall wellbeing, and it applies in the workplace as much as in our wider lives. 

Improving your sense of purpose at work might involve having clear goals, a line of sight to your accomplishments and the motivation to reach them. It might mean having the ability to influence decisions, to manage your workload and to use and develop your skills.  

Teamwork, learning at work and extra training can all help improve your sense of purpose at work. 

 

Get help with your wellbeing

 

The Access to Work Mental Health Support Service, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, provides nine months of confidential support to anyone who is struggling with their mental health at work. 

We are here to help you feel happier and healthier in your role, at no cost to you.