Paul Feeney, CEO Quilter Mental Health A Look at Mental Health In The Workplace

I believe mental health is the last great taboo in business and breaking it is central to creating a more prosperous and resilient society. If we fail then people will continue to suffer in silence.

They will continue to fall back on the ever present self-destructive ‘coping devices’ of alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling and eating disorders, the constant siren calls of all high pressure environments. The City is no exception.

In many business sectors and particularly in my own – within the City – employees still fear that if they talk about their mental health then their boss will think they lack ambition. Some may even fear losing their job. The stigma around mental health in big business is symptomatic of a macho culture where ignorance and bias still exist and that’s got to change.

I’ve had my own mental health issues in life, which stem from my childhood and it took me two decades to seek help. I struggled with PTSD, fashbacks and anxiety for two decades before the pain of continuing in silence became greater than my fear of reprisal. At times I struggle still, but no longer do I feel isolated in that struggle, I can talk about it and I want everyone in my frm to know that they can do so too.

Destigmatising mental health requires cultural change in business. That can be challenging in industries like fnancial services that are characteristically high performance, target-driven places.

I often joke that business leaders in the square mile won’t improve the well-being of their people until they see it measured on a chart, but there’s probably some truth in that.

But connecting wellbeing with business performance might in fact be a good catalyst for change. There is data that suggests measurable improvements in staff wellbeing do indeed translate into better business performance.

Research from Accenture of 2,170 working adults across the UK revealed that twothirds have personally experienced mental health challenges. It showed that when employees are unable to talk about mental health issues at work, it reduces productivity by 27 percent. But when employees feel the environment allows them to talk openly about mental health, productivity increases by 19 percent.

That’s a 46 percent productivity upside. Work-related mental health issues are often related to a stressful ‘lights always on’ culture, a bi-product of a success-at-all-costs philosophy. But a culture of cut-throat competitiveness that views burnout as a benchmark of dedication is unsustainable, unacceptable and quite frankly pathetic.

A workplace culture that pressures employees to hide mental health issues is toxic and has the potential to do enormous damage not just to those employees but to the business itself.

I have always worked in teams full of highly intelligent people. While they are driven and competitive, the very best performing teams I’ve ever worked in have also been open and supportive.

Sadly this is not universally the case. Research in 2018 from the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, the professional body for those working in wealth management and capital markets, revealed only 46 percent of fnancial services staff would be confdent talking to managers about mental ill health. Of the 3,686 respondents,

23 percent said they were unsure and 31 percent said they were not confdent talking to their managers if they felt they were suffering from stress, anxiety or depression.

I believe this boils down to a fear of showing vulnerability. And in the alpha culture of big business, vulnerability is often mistaken for weakness. Regrettably, I think the same is often true when it comes to stigma around physical disability or admitting to feeling bullied or harassed at work.

For our businesses to fourish we have to let our people know that it is okay to not be okay, and that admitting you need support won’t be held against you. Business leaders talking about mental health in the workplace wasn’t just unimaginable when I started out in the City over 30 years ago, it was barely possible a few years ago.

Fortunately, we are starting to see the changes in attitudes as campaigners have begun discussing mental health issues in a curative and non-stigmatising way. Events such as World Mental Health Day and

Mental Health Awareness Week, organised by Mental Health Foundation, play a signifcant role in a world that is opening up to mental health issues.

Within business and fnancial services specifcally, credit should go to the wider efforts being made to tackle the problem, including the Lord Mayor’s ‘This is Me’ campaign and the Time to Change Pledge, which urge frms to change how they think about mental health and better support staff. But despite this, mental health at work is only just starting to be recognised for the silent scourge that it is.

To tackle this at Quilter, I have shared my own story openly with all 4,500 of our employees via video because I want them to know they work in a place where it is okay not to be okay – and it is also ok to talk about it.

This is not philanthropic, it’s hard business. A healthy workforce equals a wealthy company.

At Quilter we have an initiative called ‘Thrive’ and its purpose is literally to create the environment where our people can thrive. It’s a holistic approach to enhancing four key aspects of mental health and well-being: physical; fnancial; social and emotional wellbeing.

There are a number of activities under each of these aspects to help support the wellbeing of employees including everything from mental health frst aiders to the Quilter Choir, regular yoga sessions to wellbeing meetings and maps offering timed walking routes at lunchtime. The emotional aspect includes access to an Employee Assistance Programme, which provides a range of services including confdential telephone support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We have apps to help employees maintain work-life balance, including advice on mental wellbeing, lifestyle, family support and money issues. There are services such as fnancial and legal telephone advice from an independent consultant and guidance on a range of every day issues like tax and debt.

We have trained employees right across the business and established a network of over 120 volunteer ambassadors across our various locations to help drive the initiative.

Each Thrive Ambassador received training facilitated by professional wellbeing consultants, designed to give them the tools necessary to have open and supportive conversations with their colleagues about well-being.

More recently we have been further developing the fnancial wellbeing element of the Thrive initiative by creating a toolkit of support and help for employees to combat fnancial stress.

There is a growing body of evidence that there’s a correlation between poor fnancial wellbeing and mental health issues.

But this is where the taboo comes back into focus, as typically we don’t tend to talk openly about money, and particularly when it’s affecting our mental health.

Instead, when faced with problems like problem debt or other fnancial worries, we tend to try to deal with it alone rather than seeking help and advice, and I think employers will increasingly have a role to play to help people, here.

The link between money and mental health is clear. Figures from the Money and Mental Policy Institute show that nearly half (46 percent) of people in problem debt also have a mental health problem and 86 percent said that their fnancial situation had made their mental health problems worse.

Progressive organisations need to take steps to address the fnancial wellbeing of their employees and the provision of money guidance and debt advice should become a standard feature of workplace support.

But the issue of money and mental health needs to reach beyond the responsibility of the City and employers. More needs to be done to raise awareness of fnancial wellbeing as a vital social concern.

It’s really important for people to seek advice and guidance to avoid a vicious circle of money worries causing mental health issues, and in turn those mental health issues exacerbating the fnancial issues.

And research shows this is not exclusive to people on low incomes or those struggling with problem debt, it can affect people anywhere on the income spectrum

This is often where fnancial advice and guidance comes in. Our research shows that those with a fnancial plan in place felt signifcantly more positive. Around 64 per cent of those with a plan felt positive about their fnancial security, compared to just 23 per cent of those without a plan.

The relationship between money and mental health makes it even more important to improve the UK’s fnancial capability and resilience. Financial capability is a key driver of people’s fnancial wellbeing – that is the ability to meet all current commitments, without undue stress, and the resilience to cope with future income or expenditure shocks. It is a combination of behaviours, knowledge, skills and attitudes, which are often set at a young age.

Around half of young people (those aged 12 to 17 years old) and worse still, half of parents are not confdent in their money management skills, according to the Money Advice Service.

That lack of confdence is playing a huge part in the nation’s fnancial resilience, or lack of it. With this in mind we need to proactively teach the upcoming generations the life skills they need to manage their money well throughout their lifetime.

With the fnancial crisis still burning in people’s minds, infation eroding people’s money, and housing costs at stratospheric levels, fnancial skills, confdence and behaviors to support general wellbeing are more important than ever.

And this is where the common phrase “knowledge is power” comes into play. It seems self-evident that education should be the solution to the unsustainable fnancial path we fnd ourselves on. We need to teach our children, the next generation of consumers, about good money habits.

In fact we – as parents, teachers, policymakers, economists, fnancial professionals – should be demanding loudly better fnancial education for children.

That’s why we’ve recently written to the Prime Minister, along with 20 other investment frms, calling on him to support compulsory primary fnancial education.

Last year the government stated that the revised maths curriculum for primary schools will provide children with fnancial education. Unfortunately, being profcient in maths doesn’t give you a fast track to fnancial wellbeing.

Maths alone doesn’t help cultivate healthy money habits and behaviors such as budgeting, savings and avoiding high cost credit.

Study after study has revealed disturbing statistics of the nation’s lack of fnancial capability. These should act as a very serious wakeup call and reveal just how fnancially vulnerable the average UK family is.

The FCA’s recent reports on the fnancial lives of UK adults revealed 4.1 million adults are in ‘diffculty’ because they missed bill payments or credit commitments with 3.1 million adults facing high cost loans. These diffculties start from a young age. In fact, a separate report from the OECD has found that an astonishing 96 percent of teenagers worry about money every day.

I believe that we urgently need to create more fnancially engaged and resilient societies and workforces. The issues of money, mental health and wellbeing are heavily interwoven and increasingly, responsibility will rest with employers to lead the change.

This may mean embracing new measures, alongside fnancial performance, focused upon quality of life or wellbeing. It certainly means focusing greater resources on prevention and less on cure.

Much rests on embracing open and tolerant cultures and it is the job of leaders to make this happen by being the example of change that they want to see. We all spend so much time in corporate life striving for what we can be. It’s time to strive for who we can be. Ultimately, it’s a choice that will defne us all.

Paul Feeney is CEO of Quilter, an experienced, entrepreneurial leader, having held various senior business roles in large international fnancial services businesses, including as CEO of NatWest Private Bank, and NatWest Investments USA, Group Managing Director and Head of Distribution for Gartmore Investment Management, and Global Head of Distribution at BNY Mellon Asset Management International. During his career, Paul has developed a deep understanding of the challenges, risks and opportunities faced by the industry, thereby enabling him to create and develop the vision and strategy of the Group. Paul’s strong commercial acumen and dynamic leadership style allow him to effectively oversee the execution of our strategy.

Other appointments: Paul is a member of the FCA Practitioner Panel and was a Non-executive Trustee of Sense International until February 2019.

Quilter is a leading provider of advice, investments and wealth management both in the UK and internationally. Crucially we give customers and fnancial advisers choice and fexibility in how they choose to access our solutions and services. Managing £95.3 billion of investments on behalf of over 900,000 customers (as at 31 March 2020), we operate in one of the largest wealth markets in the world – and one that is growing.

Most importantly we are a business that puts good customer outcomes at its heart, helping to create prosperity for the generations of today and tomorrow. We continually strive to do this through quality face to face advice, through strong, long term investment management performance.