Claire Roberts, HR Business Partner The Business Case th November 2012 Mental Health in the Workplace

© 2010 CASSIDIAN - All rights reserved Page 2 Claire Roberts 29/11/12 Background..... Cassidian Ltd – private sector company based in Newport with Customer sites across the UK 550 permanent employees, plus circa 130 contractors Part of the EADS group Defence and Security Projects – IT and Network Security, Border Control, Encryption Devices Customers – MoD, Emergency Services, UK and International Government Bodies Me – Claire Roberts HR Business Partner Early career specialised in Internal Recruitment Worked for Cassidian for 5 years permanently Diversity Officer for Cassidian Ltd UK

© 2010 CASSIDIAN - All rights reserved Page Why Mental Health? The statistics that will be presented today by Gofal and EHRC speak for themselves….. Two key reports that further highlight the topic to employers. Report one from the CIPD – Simply Health Absence Management Survey found that 40% of employers respondents reported a rise in stress-related absence over the past year, only 10% reported a decrease. For the second year running, stress was cited as the top cause of long- term absence. The number of employers reporting increased mental health problems among their employees more than doubled in 2012 compared with the 2009 survey. Report two from Aviva – Health in the Workplace 2012 found the initiative that employers would most like to implement was more support for employees with mental health issues (34%) 3 Claire Roberts 29/11/12

© 2010 CASSIDIAN - All rights reserved Page The Business Case……Cassidian 1)Networking - Equality & Human Rights Commission 2)The role of the Business…. 3)The role of HR…… 4)Reduce the stigma associated with mental health 5)Personal experience 4 Claire Roberts 29/11/12

© 2010 CASSIDIAN - All rights reserved Page The Campaign…. 5 Claire Roberts 29/11/12 1)Write your policy / guidelines – obtain approval 2)Decide on the theme of your campaign 3)Have a specific day for the launch 4)Use 3 rd parties to assist with the launch 5)Provide as much information as possible 6)Make it fun! 7)Use visuals - show videos 8)Be available 9)Evaluate

© 2010 CASSIDIAN - All rights reserved Page Key Points to Consider….. Get the buy in from key stakeholders within the business – including H&S and line managers Ensure your policy / guidelines are written towards your employees – not just managers Plan the launch of any policy or guidelines to suit your employees Communicate effectively – using examples reduces the stigma and will encourage employees to not think of mental health as a taboo subject Having a Mental Health First Aider in the business 6 Claire Roberts 29/11/12

© 2010 CASSIDIAN - All rights reserved Page More Key Points to Consider….. Provide awareness training/workshops to educate and highlight key areas particularly to those individuals who may be the first point of contact for employees Ensure your policy/guidelines focuses on the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders Provide as much external points of contact for information and support Evaluate the effectiveness of the messages you want to deliver 7 Claire Roberts 29/11/12