Work Affects Mental Health Of Half The Female Population
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- Published: Thursday, 27 July 2023 07:42
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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Nuffield Health surveyed 8000 adults for its 2023 Healthier Nation Index and the results reveal a startling proportion of female employees battling with mental health issues with women more impacted than men.
The results should cause all in the dental profession, with its high percentage of female workers, to pause and consider how it operates and recognize where stress and inter-personal conflict can be better managed.
48 percent of women report that work has a negative impact on their mental health, compared to 40 percent of men.
22 percent of women went into work more than 10 times when their mental health was bad compared to just 16 percent of men.
The report revealed too, that women are less confident about openly discussing their mental wellbeing with their employer.
34 percent of men called in sick due to poor mental health but were happy to disclose this information with their employer. This contrasts with only 24 percent of women.
And, in another headline statistic, fewer than half of women rated their current job satisfaction, motivation, and productivity as “good” post-pandemic. One in three women have considered downshifting or leaving the workforce altogether.
Over half of dentists are female whilst dental nursing, hygiene and reception teams are almost exclusively female.
Anxious or aggressive patients, patients who fail to attend, treatments that don’t go to plan, the challenge of meeting UDA targets and equipment failures are just some of the many factors that threaten a relaxing dental work environment.
Lisa Gunn, Mental Health Prevention Lead at Nuffield Health said: “To prevent losing female talent, organisations must consider their workplaces’ practices to ensure they are supportive for females and fit for purpose.
There’s no single reason why more women are struggling with poor mental health at work than men, but the way societal structures and gender norms interact could have a substantial impact on emotional wellbeing.
“Managers need to fundamentally rethink company structures to promote fairness and equal opportunities and prevent poor mental health and burnout for all employees”.
Lisa advises there are many strategies an employer (think practice owner) can adopt to help minimise the occurrence and impact of mental health issues at work.
These include ‘Noticing the Signs’, for example an employee’s mood, appearance, absences and reactions to events.
Secondly, find ‘Time to Talk’. Female employees are often more reluctant to speak openly about their mental health at work, despite nearly half saying it negatively impacts their wellbeing. Be an ‘Active Listener’.
Creating a ‘Culture of Transparency and Equality‘ helps to reassure female workers that they are every bit the equal of male colleagues. Although the majority of staff in a practice are female many work part time because of family commitments and may fear this holds their progression back,
Breadwinning mothers are three times more likely than breadwinning fathers to be keepers of their children’s schedules. Avoid disturbing them with work related messages and e-mails when not at work unless absolutely necessary.
Finally, ensure practice Policies surrounding Maternity and Family Rights are up to date and baked into the practice culture.
GDPUK readers can see the full findings of Nuffield Health’s latest Healthier Nation Index here
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