Workforce mental health is to be the focus of a business event in Aberdeen this month.
Businesses are being invited to an event hosted by RGU:Wellness, a unique occupational health service for workplace absence management, on Thursday, October 29 which will discuss a range of mental health solutions for the workforce, particularly during times of change.
Led by a team of academic and practitioner experts in the field, the free lunch and learn event will explain how companies can put in place a collaborative and business-led approach to workforce mental wellbeing.
The event, which is taking place at Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) Garthdee campus, will also share research on the value of creating a mentally healthy workplace culture, which directly leads to greater productivity, reduced stress, increased efficiency, fewer preventable errors and organisational resilience.
Professor Val Maehle, director of RGU:Wellness, explains: “Recent CIPD research shows that just over two-fifths of organisations have noticed an increase in reported mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, among employees in the past 12 months.
“Therefore in addition to focussing on the physical wellbeing of the workforce which is standard practice across many organisations, it is apparent that employers need to provide protection to ensure their colleagues’ mental health is also safeguarded, particularly in times of change and challenge.
“This event session will be highly interactive and participatory, and will provide take away techniques for those who attend as well as deliver guidance on ways companies can add mental health solutions to their employee health and wellbeing toolkit.”
The event will provide delegates with an overview of three mental health solutions in particular - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT); Solution Focused Brief Therapy; and Mindfulness to improve personal and professional effectiveness – and how they can each be employed in the workplace.
The lunch and learn is the second in the ‘Protecting Your Skilled Workforce’ series of events run by RGU:Wellness which aims to encourage discussion about the value of safeguarding colleague health and wellbeing during times of economic difficultly in Aberdeen, and to provide some new thinking on ways in which companies can do this.
The series also feeds into the overarching discussion about the impact of the changing profile of the UK’s working population and the effect health related absence can have on businesses as well as the individual.
The event will run from 12noon to 1.30pm and is open to anyone with an interest in employee and organisation wellbeing, in particular those working in human resources, line management, occupational health and HSE, as well as wellness and wellbeing professionals.
To find out more and to book a place, visit www.rgu.ac.uk/events/protecting-your-skilled-workforce-mental-health-and-wellbeing
For more information on RGU:Wellness, a unique one-stop-shop occupational health service for companies to get employees back to work, visit www.rgu.ac.uk/rgu-wellness