Spotting the signs of poor mental health in your drivers

In the second part of this three-part feature on driver wellbeing, Kevin Robinson examines the signs to look for that could signify poor mental health in your drivers.

In the UK alone, mental ill-health, including stress, depression and anxiety, is thought to be responsible for 91 million lost working days each year – more than for any other illness.

Analysts reckon that this sickness absence costs £8.4 billion each year, plus another £15.1 billion in reduced productivity. A further £2.4 billion is lost replacing staff who leave work because of mental ill-health.

So how do we, as employers, legislate for this and instil within our organisations a culture where we, and those we employ, understand what signs to look for in their colleagues, and also to feel sufficiently empowered to ask the question, “Are you okay?”

Across the UK, employers are failing to provide adequate support to employees or equip managers with the skills to help them – so says the Mental Health at Work report released in January 2017 – and the situation has barely improved since, with many citing a lack of knowledge around the subject as the key issue.

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