YouGov poll: Construction firms are failing to support workers through cost-of-living crisis

Construction industry workers are being failed by their employers, who are offering some of the lowest levels of mental health and wellbeing support to staff across the entire economy, a survey of 3000 companies and employees has revealed.

Despite there being a high demand for support – to help them through the cost-of-living crisis and for issues such as stress and anxiety – people working in the industry appear to be among the poorest served by bosses, according to the YouGov poll.

A little more than a third of construction businesses (37%) said they regarded improving staff morale as their responsibility, while most saw attracting and retaining talent and improving productivity as their main priority.

The online poll of 3000 British employers and employees, commissioned by welltech company Frog Systems, also revealed that one in 10 construction businesses said they spent nothing at all on mental health and wellness support for their workforces, with a further 18% spending £100 or less, per-employee-per-year.

Construction workers received among the lowest levels of support across a range of areas, the findings reveal. Just 19% of employees said they had access to an employee assistance programme (EAP), compared with 42% of staff in IT and telecoms and 52% in finance and accounting.

Just 13% said their firm had employer supported volunteering – compared with 35% in IT and telecoms and 45% in finance and accounting – while only 18% were offered life insurance and 24% private medical care.

This compared with higher proportions in other industries; for example, 25% of manufacturing workers said they were offered life insurance by their employer.

Just two per cent of construction workers said they felt confident about going to their boss if they had a problem in their personal life or with their finances, while only 1% would talk to a work colleague. More people said they would search the Internet before going to their line manager with an issue.

The survey follows the recent publication of another report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which showed worrying levels of in-work poverty.

It said employers should be doing more to ease the pressure on staff facing financial difficulties, including offering flexible working and more secure shifts, creating a compassionate workplace culture, and signposting employees to specialist support.

Marcus Herbert, head of wellbeing at the British Safety Council, said: “Employers who don’t invest in employee wellbeing may be missing out on the productivity benefits it can provide.

“SMEs are more likely to suffer if an employee, who is crucial to their operation, has to take time off work to deal with stress or because they have a repetitive strain injury.”

Mental health adviser and former CBI deputy director general, Henrietta Jowitt, said: “Wellbeing is an output – it is the result of a whole range of inputs that support your people. It is not a package, off the shelf.

“If you don’t understand your colleagues’ needs and look after their wellbeing, so that they feel they are safe, belong and are supported in a way that works for them, they will neither stay nor produce their best work.”

The online poll showed that while demand for mental health and wellbeing services among construction workers was high – particularly for stress and anxiety and the cost-of-living crisis – a significant number said they received little or no support from bosses. The services that were provided were not always of value to them.

While more than one in four businesses (28%) said they ran wellbeing workshops, those were used by just four per cent of staff. More than one in three businesses (34%) said they offered support from a mental health first aid trainer, but this was taken up by just three per cent of employees.

And whilst almost one in three (29%) and almost one in four (23%) employers said they provided EAPs and wellbeing apps respectively; both solutions were used by just three per cent of staff.

Phil Worms, CEO of Frog Systems, said the report showed a gulf in trust in the workplace around wellbeing support for employees.

“Whilst many employers seem to understand the emotional and physical challenges being faced by their employees, they don’t appear to be able to provide the right wellbeing tools and information to support them.

“Solutions which are reactive, standalone, ‘tick box,’ not trusted, or do not provide sufficient insight will not enable the deployment of early intervention and support strategies.

“By listening to, and understanding what employees need, companies can start to build stronger, more empathetic and productive work environments.

Access to wellbeing support should not be a lottery or a privilege.”