First Organisations Sign Up to be See Me in Work Partners
Posted by See Me, 13 October 2016
We are delighted to have the first four organisations join us as See Me in Work Partners.
HMRC in Aberdeen, Standard Life, equality charity Ceartas and The Royal Society of Edinburgh have all taken the lead in tackling mental health stigma in their workplaces
They became official partners in work after changing their approach to mental health to help reduce stigma and discrimination.
Workplaces are one of the most common areas where people experiencing mental health problems face discrimination. This can range from being bullied or excluded, to being passed over for promotion or in some cases losing their job.
To help improve workers and managers ability to support each other, and tackle discrimination See Me developed the See Me in Work programme.
It helps and supports employers in making changes to their work practices, to improve the working lives of employees with mental health problems.
The organisations went through the four stages of the See Me in Work programme, which involves surveying the staff to identify where issues around mental health stigma may exist and find out more about the employees opinions on mental health.
They then worked with See Me on a plan to improve communications through the office and enhance awareness of mental health. They have held a number of awareness raising events which have encouraged staff to have conversations on mental health without the fear of being judged.
Mark Chapman, from HMRC in Aberdeen, said: “HMRC recognises the importance of the mental health and wellbeing of its people, andwe wanted to provide an environment where everyone could talk about mental health without fear of being judged.
“The road to becoming a See Me in Work partner has seen us educate and support our people to tackle stigma and improve mental health in our office in Aberdeen.
“We’ve always wanted to say that we need to tackle stigma and discrimination with regard to mental health, but becoming a See Me in Work partner has allowed us to take action to noticeably make a difference for our staff, with our education and information campaigns, and See Me supported events.
“We believe that this has made a positive change to the culture in our office and we hope that we can share our success story across other HMRC locations in the future.”
Mark Chapman from HMRC speaks at the Partner event and Standard Life are presented with their certificate
Catherine O’Connell, Standard Life's Head of Occupational Health and Safety, said: "As a company, we are committed to creating an atmosphere that allows both managers and employees to feel comfortable enough to talk about mental health issues, and foster an culture of understanding.
"A lot of this starts from training, and our Developing Mentally Healthy Workplace training programme runs across our UK and Ireland offices. Our membership of the wider campaign allows us to share and collaborate with other employers on the latest developments and learning, so that we can contribute to better understanding of mental health issues in society.”
Richard Monaghan speaks about his mental health at work
The Partners joined at an event in Edinburgh last week, where our community champions Richard Monaghan spoke about his experiences of discrimination at work following a break down.
See Me director Calum Irving speaks about See Me in Work
Calum Irving, See Me programme director, said: “The employers who have become See Me in Work partners are real leaders in Scotland, taking the initiative in tackling mental health discrimination at work.
“Last year a YouGov poll commissioned by See Me found that 48% of Scottish workers say people don’t tell their employers about mental health problems for fear of losing their job.
“By supporting workers who are experiencing problems with their mental health and having an open culture where it is okay to talk about mental health it is likely to save employers money as absence rates may be reduced.
“We are delighted to have our first See Me in Work partners and would urge other organisations to look into their workplaces.”
Ceartas present at the event