Legal & General releases new mental health Red Report

• The Red Report follows the insurer’s successful ‘Not a Red Card’ mental health campaign last year
• The report outlines the five key barriers to talking about mental health in the workplace

Worryingly, nearly half of attendees (48%) revealed that they didn’t feel their employees would confide in a colleague if they were struggling with their own mental well-being. However, on a more encouraging note, 85% said that they had seen improvements over the past five years with regards to discussing mental health in the workplace – with 97% saying the recent increase in coverage of mental health stories from the sporting world had helped to destigmatise the topic.

As part of the full-day event, delegates were asked to contribute to a series of roundtable discussions to explore the barriers that are preventing conversations around mental health in their own workplaces.

Five key themes around mental health support in the workplace emerged from these sessions:

• A lack of education and understanding around mental health problems
• The current portrayal and narrative surrounding mental health
• The company’s overall culture
• Poor availability of resources to help address mental health
• The lack of role models within business

Nigel Wilson, CEO, Legal & General said: “Understanding the barriers to discussing mental health in the workplace is the key to improving the quality and quantity of these conversations. Our Not a Red Card campaign launched last May, used the power of sport and iconic sports people to tackle the issue head on, and we were able to engage with 3.5million people on social media alone. Our Red report is the next step to identify what is discouraging employees from being open and honest about mental health. I firmly believe that business leaders can learn a lot from talking to each other more about mental health and also by engaging across different sectors. Our sports stars who have spoken so bravely and openly on this topic, reinforce the fact that mental health should be given exactly the same time and care as physical health.”

Lord Dennis Stevenson CBE,co-author of the Government’s Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers report, comments:

“We know that mental health doesn’t discriminate by seniority or sector and we also know that talking about it helps. Campaigns like the Not a Red Card Offence are doing vital work to tackle the stigma by encouraging people to have honest and open discussions at work. The Red Report is another great example of Legal & General committing to help bridge the gap between employers and employees. I very much hope that other employers whether for profit or not for profit will follow the example that Legal & General is setting.” 

The Red Report from Legal & General includes tangible recommendations to address each of these barriers to help organisations of all sizes improve conversations around mental health in their workplaces. The Red Report is supported by thoughts and insight from speakers on the day, including TV presenter Gabby Logan and Sara Cremer, CEO of Redwood.

As part of its commitment to continually improving the wellbeing of its own employees, Legal & General has made three pledges to help remove the stigma often unfairly associated with the mental health. The FTSE 100 insurer is incentivising openness by encouraging colleagues to discuss these issues and promote active listening to create an environment of mutual support within the company. Legal & General will also be providing training for employees to help spot and deal with signs of mental distress and will be actively developing a positive narrative around mental health, to be communicated with colleagues all around the world.

Launched in May 2017, the Legal & General ‘Not A Red Card’ campaign set out to use the values and appeal of sport to raise awareness around the accessibility and acceptability of discussing mental health issues in the workplace.

At the time of the launch, research from Legal & General showed that only 4% of employees who had experienced depression and 5% who had experienced anxiety felt able to talk to their manager or superior about it, yet a huge 78% of employers believed their employees would be comfortable discussing such problems at work.