More absence, but less impact on business performance. What can

Bearing in mind that Swedish firms report fewer impacts of mental health issues, our data suggests that the approach adopted in Swedish firms may be more effective in managing the impacts of workplace mental health issues, and that encouraging more movement to this approach in English and Irish firms may pay dividends for employees and employers. [...] Precarity here refers to involuntary part-time and temporary work, and job insecurity related to fear of job loss, and in the UK this is estimated to apply to 4.3% of the workforce, slightly lower than the 4.5% in Ireland, but substantially below the 12.6% in Sweden (Kretsos & Livanos, 2016). [...] Whereas for English and Irish firms those in the services sector have the highest reported likelihood of such absence, in Sweden the pattern is different, and hospitality and production firms report the highest levels of mental health sickness absence (Figure 3.1.3). [...] Reflecting on the impacts of remote working, Swedish firms are the least likely to point to reduced employee attachment to the business and employees struggling due to lack of interaction with others but are the most likely to say that it is more difficult to manage remote staff. [...] Committing to senior-level engagement through, for example, the establishment of a mental health budget and a mental health plan seems likely to raise the profile of these issues within the firm, to ensure that business leaders are aware of the potential impacts of mental health issues and of the likely benefits of addressing them.