New research in England finds line manager training in mental health is associated with improved staff recruitment, staff retention, customer service, business performance, and lower long-term sickness absence due to mental ill-health.
Whereas much of the existing research in this area has focused on the impact of line manager mental health training on employee outcomes, this study of company data, collected from an average of 1,800 organisations over 4 years across different sectors, looked specifically at organisational-level outcomes. The findings suggest that line manager training in mental health has business benefits.
"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘔𝘴 [𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴] 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 (𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰) 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘔𝘴."
Interestingly, most organisations in this study had fewer than 50 employees. A common challenge for these organisations is that they often have fewer resources to be as active in mental health promotion. However, line manager training in mental health is a relatively inexpensive intervention to implement at the leader level. It can therefore be deployed in the smallest to largest of organisations.
Also of note, the study did not evaluate the quality of the training provided, only the presence or absence of such training. The authors anticipate that the nature of the training (in terms of content, focus and duration) and its perceived quality by managers are likely to be important variables in how impactful the training is to organisational outcomes. I can see how other contextual factors may also be relevant. Nonetheless, the study suggests the presence of line manager training in mental health is associated with better business outcomes compared to having none at all.
* Line manager training in mental health is different from mental health first aid training. Whereas the latter is focused on remedial care and support, the former is focused on prevention and improving employees' working conditions and management practices through upskilling line managers.
#workplacewellbeing #mentalhealth #linemanagers
