My first thought when reading this report was  “You don’t say?  Really?  I’d never have thought that!”

To some of us reports like this NICE report are stating the bleeding obvious, things that really aren’t rocket science.  Yet so many managers, directors and leaders seem to be unable to recognise this simple fact.  The BBC’s report picks up on some very relevant points:

Professor Cary Cooper, an expert in psychology from Lancaster University who helped draw up the recommendations, said: “You cannot underestimate the importance of saying well done to staff, but so often it does not happen.  Managers will tell you when you are doing something wrong, but not when you are doing it right.”

In my experience it’s also helpful if colleagues (same grade or junior, it doesn’t matter) give you good feedback  It’s also a good idea if when you hear good news about a colleague, you drop by and say “well done” to them.  It really can make a difference.

…A recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development which revealed a quarter of UK workers describe their mental health as moderate or poor, yet nearly all continued to work regularly.

The NICE report said with the right environment work can even be a force for good as it can offer stability, purpose, friendship and distraction.

The right work environment also offers support for its employees.  Right now I can think of one employer in particular who is failing catastrophically to offer support to its staff.  The breach of an employee’s private medical details mentioned earlier has also happened again.  This time a different employee has been exposed as being off with work-related stress.

But a spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry said: “The mental health of staff is something firms have been making a priority.  “More and more schemes have been set up to support staff in recent years.”

Schemes are like codes of conduct – fine sounding words but meaningless unless actually signed up and adhered to.  Too often when the brown stuff hits the air circulation device employers think not of how to support that employee and get them back contributing positively but of their own short termism; the scheme goes out of the window and the employee is almost driven to being signed off with stress and never returning.

That is destructive and, frankly, typical of some of the bad management I have seen.

I know because I’ve seen it.

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