Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Content
  • News
  • Comment
Content
Comment
Content

Out in the open

Open-access content 2nd August 2018

06 August 2018 | Bill Hancox


Bill Hancox, director of FM at Edge Hill University, encourages more frequent and open conversations about mental health in FM.

It is over two months since we celebrated Mental Health Awareness Week. I hope you were able to use this calendar event as a platform to have those 'difficult conversations' as a catalyst for change.


Great things are happening in some organisations, however, I am not convinced that we are all doing enough. At an organisational level, I don't believe it is unrealistic for us all to embrace the six 'basic' mental health core standards proposed within the Stevenson/Farmer report Thriving at Work. 


We are all affected by poor mental health at some point in our lives. Experiencing a period of poor mental health isn't something we should be ashamed of, nor is it something we should avoid talking about. It happens.


I accept that we are perhaps quite a way off having water-cooler conversations about mental health, but we really ought to be overcoming the fear of getting this agenda out in the open. 


FM is about people, and as the aforementioned report suggests, we need to encourage open conversations about mental health and the support available when employees are struggling. 


We also need to equip our colleagues and their supervisors and managers with the right level of awareness training to ensure we make appropriate and timely interventions.


I work in an organisation that has a positive culture with a well-developed health and well-being agenda. I can guarantee to you that I can still stop conversations dead by raising the mental health and well-being agenda.


We are all more accepting that providing a great customer experience begins with providing a great employee experience. We are also more aware that providing a great employee experience is dependent on the existence of a great workplace culture. We should now accept the fact that a great workplace culture depends on us embracing the mental health agenda. It makes good business sense - and it is the right thing to do. 


Bill Hancox is director of facilities management, Edge Hill University

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Most-Popular

 

Latest Jobs

Technical Subject Matter Expert

Remote working with regular travel to Hampshire
Competitive salary plus benefits
Reference
54327

Head of Digital Transformation

London (Central)
£55,000 - £65,000 +Car & Package
Reference
54315

Head of Venue Operations

Tower Hamlets
£50,000 - £55,000 + Benefits
Reference
54314
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive, Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London, E1 8BL