Tackling taboo of mental ill-health at work

Acas has launched its first guide to tackle the last taboo in business - mental illness at work. It is a fast-growing problem, particularly with workers becoming increasingly concerned about their futures in the economic downturn, and costs Britain more than £30 billion every year in lost production.

Mental health organisation, the Centre for Mental Health, says a total of 91 million work days are lost to mental ill-health every year. But the lost days account for only half the £30 billion cost of reduced productivity, with the rest taken up by employees turning up for work when unwell and not performing at their best.

The Government's Department of Health estimates that one in four people will suffer a mental health problem, while a new government-funded study says almost one in three workers now suffer anxiety or panic attacks due to work pressures.

Another survey by Europe's largest development body for professionals, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and healthcare insurance company Simplyhealth found that stress is now the number one cause of long-term absence.