On the 26th Of January, I had the pleasure of attending a Level 2 mental health first aid course with MI Team Training https://www.miteamtraining.co.uk/ Care of Ian Summers of Summers Accident repair.
An issue every company should be looking at ( not just those in the Automotive industry) is the mental health of their staff. By law, you have to have a “first aider” in the workplace, and if someone was to injure themselves, people would rush to assist. But how many would rush to assist someone suffering from depression? mental fatigue? stress? suicidal thoughts? would you even know how to recognise the signs? or know what to do when you did?
The automotive industry is one industry that gets neglected in a number of areas, in the mechanical and sales side, high turnover in staff is common. This is generally because the people who end up as managers or company directors are abysmal in those roles. There are some good companies, good leaders, business owners, family businesses, but even the good ones are ill equipped to look after or in most cases even consider the mental health of their staff.
The body repair industry is one of those areas that gets hit the hardest. The stress involved from being a business owner, trying to make a profit when apparently everyone who wants you to do their work does not want you to, ( INSURERS!!! LOOK AT YOURSELVES FOR THIS!!!! YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF PROBABLY 90% OF THESE STRESSES in the vehicle body repair industry). Struggling to attract staff , due to not being able to pay enough, struggling to retain staff due to not being able to pay enough, being aware of the ageing demographic of what staff you have and knowing that they have not got long before they will want out!.
Then there is your cashflow, or lack of it, then trying to find contracts that will make you profit, or good partners to deal with, whilst working with contracts that barely keep the lights on..
Then Covid hits,then furloughed staff… then, now you can open, now you cannot, now you can, but with “x” requirements…
Is it any wonder that so many people reach breaking point? perhaps your the employee being “micromanaged” “performance managed” , and as a result , being put under more stress to do the impossible whilst someone tries to manage you out of the business…… all the while on the basis that the people more senior are not capable of managing “HUMANS” in ways where if they DID they would be better employees and more productive.
I have worked for two insurance companies where this was the case, both times not just the management, but the human resource departments were Crap. The fact that management was so poor is indicative of the non existent training they would not have had in being a manager, and certainly in the role of a people manager. To give them a little bit of leeway, it is the culture of the company that employed them, that failed them by not providing THEM with the tools to do their jobs properly. And as ever, who ever set the targets above them, was focusing on the wrong areas.
Both times, and as a direct result, I was put under immense stress that caused me to be Mentally Ill.
When I worked as a Trade Union rep, I knew of many people at all levels with similar issues.
In 2018 , in GB their was 595,000 records of work related stress injury recorded.
This is where Mental health first aiders and the knowledge attained in attending the course are extremely beneficial. The Motor industry is predominantly male, and are not as “emotive” in being able to express exactly how they feel. 75% of suicides last year were male. 25% are female.
Psychological studies show that females start to develop much better communication skills at a very young age, stemming from the playground and the groups they would be in and speak with their social peers more often. Males in general are around 5 years behind and never really catch up. This shows in the figures above.
There has been a steady increase in the visibility of talk’s around Mental Health, this needs to continue and be escalated that “should ” someone be experiencing problems , they have access to someone in their workplace who can either help directly by just “listening”, or signpost the way to other services, like their doctor, samaritans, MIND, 101 or even in an emergency 999.
I would love to fully expand on all that I learned on the course, but there was so much, it would not be possible. BUT! you SHOULD follow up after reading this! Whether it is create your own safeguards for your company or your own personal knowledge. I would highly recommend going on this course.
Click on https://www.miteamtraining.co.uk/
To learn More, or alternatively, contact Mike Izzard on : 07752 002426
Or to find out more about Mike, his linkedin profile is here https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-izzard-2b8b3324/
