LISTEN: When EG revealed last November that more than a quarter of real estate professionals had considered taking their own life, the industry was stunned. But not into silence. Stunned and then prompted into taking action, into speaking up, into embracing the fact that it is OK to not be OK sometimes.
On the day that EG published its mental health survey results last year, Neil Worrall, head of investor facilities management at JLL, went to Southend seafront, turned off his phone and went for a walk.
He was one of the handful of people who had shared their own experience of mental health issues in that special edition of EG. When he saw that his interview had been posted, he shared it on social media and then switched off his mobile phone. He was oblivious, while walking along the shore, of the scale of interest from across the industry about his story.
“I had missed calls, texts, WhatsApps and emails, and the LinkedIn response was global – people were getting in touch from across the world, and the post got 23,000 views,” says Worrall. “It felt like a tipping point, and felt like the story was really connecting with people.”
A brave move
People emailed him, thanking him for telling his story and saying that they too now had the courage to tell theirs. Others said they wished they had his bravery to tell their story, but were keeping silent instead.
“There is a link between bravery and mental health, and I think we need to decouple that,” Worrall says. “I don’t think it’s about being brave; I think it’s about being honest. Can we be honest with ourselves?”
It’s a question that the property industry needs to ask itself. In order to make any progress in tackling the poor mental health statistics displayed in EG’s mental health survey, companies need to be honest and ask themselves what they need to do to improve mental health in the workplace.
That was exactly what was discussed in the latest of EG’s series of podcasts that explore the state of property’s mental health and how the industry can create and build happy, healthy spaces for all.
Occupational hazards
Faye McGuinness, head of workplace wellbeing programmes at mental health charity Mind, says the industry needs to focus on tackling two critical statistics revealed in EG’s mental health survey last year: that 86% of respondents felt like they couldn’t turn to their employer for support (the national average for this across all business sectors is 51%); and that 36% said working in real estate had a negative impact on their mental health (the national average is around 39%).
“What the stats show is that there is a real issue within the property workforce about people feeling able to have a conversation in their workforce,” says McGuinness. “That’s going to have an impact on productivity, which we know costs the UK around £29bn a year in terms of presenteeism – people who are coming to work but not being able to be productive.
“We know that the cost to employers across the board nationally is around £45bn in terms of absences, presenteeism and staff turnover. This isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ any more; this is a business priority.”
Culture change
The impact on your balance sheet when it comes to the cost of mental health in the workplace is significant. So how exactly can businesses create an environment in which staff can talk openly about their mental health? Andrew Bridge, managing partner at Fisher German, says that a culture change has to start from the top.
“If you have an authentic leader who is inspiring people to feel safe and feel as though they are being valued for who they are, people will follow,” he says. “If you have a leader who people think deep down: ‘You know what, I don’t believe him or her, I don’t see him or her walking that walk,’ then this won’t happen.
“It starts from the top, and leaders have the potential to have the largest impact in setting the tone for the rest of the business.”
Worrall’s story is an example of just how big an impact sharing your own story can have – not only on people within your business, but across the whole industry.
“We’re still not there, though,” he argues. “Although people are happy to tell me one-to-one, going beyond that is a challenge. We really have to keep this momentum up. In real estate, the climate emergency is a really big thing for us. This feels like a mental health emergency, looking at those statistics, and we almost need to treat it as such.”
To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette
