On the 4th of December, the long awaited results of the ground-breaking benchmarking exercise into Mental Health in the highways sector were released. The exercise, a survey launched in June by Safer Highways, was based around the Thriving at Work standards, which are split between ‘core’ and ‘enhanced’ standards. The survey, which was completed by some of the biggest companies from across the sector, was aimed at assessing mental health provision across the industry and also had the intention of directing organisations to the relevant guidance information, helping them improve their mental health provision.
The results show that 95% of organisations surveyed are hitting at least one of the core standards, with 52% meeting all ten. It was also found that 28% of those organisations surveyed met all 10 of the core and enhanced standards. The vast majority (90%) were found to offer mental health awareness to staff, with 84% believing they actively encourage conversations around mental health. The lowest scoring standard was core standard six which expects organisations to routinely monitor employee mental health and wellbeing, being met by 63% of respondents.
The statistics generated by this survey provide an encouraging picture of a sector that is starting to acknowledge its role in supporting mental health in the workplace. The numbers also reveal that there is room for improvement and where this improvement might be needed most. The results demonstrate that while organisations are highlighting success at hitting one or more of the standards, these successes are largely not yet being built into wider strategies to meet all of the Thriving at Work standards. It is hoped that companies that took part in this survey can now use Thriving at Work, and the resources its provides, to help in areas which they are currently not compliant.