The Retailer Winter Edition 2022

WI NT ER 202 2

3 9

Retail workers are suffering the lowest mental wellbeing of any employee group.

Mental health – time to equip management

Employment lawyer, EmmaMorgan, comments: “In late2019, thechallengewas togetmental health on theagenda. Retailerswereencouraged toopen the conversation so that staff felt comfortable talking about their mental health. “Arecent report by the charity, Retail Trust, shows that communication is no longer the issue. Of the management personnel surveyed, 91% had seenan increase inmental health issues since the pandemic started.However, 28%didnot feel that they had enough resources to help, suggesting that equipping management with the necessary skills to assist employees needs to be made a strategicpriority. Retailerswill need tofindbudget to train management in how to handle mental health issues, think about partnering with their occupational health providers or mental health support providers and even consider appointing mental health “champions”. “Given the report also found that retail workers are suffering the lowest mental wellbeing of any employee group, themessage fromback in 2019 has onlygrown in importance in2022 - providing managementwith training tohandlemental health will pay dividends.”

Ruth Clare ruth.clare@shoosmiths.co.uk 03700 865 762

Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog