How rail companies can improve their management of staff mental wellbeing
Mental ill-health is a leading cause of sickness absence in rail and is estimated to cost the industry at least £10.7m a year.
Findings from the first ever survey on mental wellbeing in rail—carried out by RSSB in 2020—indicate that more than one in three workers meet the criteria for a clinical mental health condition. Rail employees showed a 1.5 times higher rate of anxiety than the general population.
It is vital rail organisations take a structured and evidence-based approach to managing mental health to achieve meaningful improvements. RSSB developed the ‘Mental Wellbeing in Rail: Achieving Change’ project, which is underpinned by the survey findings, to help rail companies implement targeted interventions to improve staff mental wellbeing.
RSSB launched the project to better understand the barriers to efficient management of mental health in rail.
The project, which ran between 2022 and 2024, aimed to improve mental wellbeing in the three participating companies (train operator, freight operator, supplier). It also sought to gather insights to share with the wider industry.
The project can be broken down into six stages: engagement, assessment, formulation, planning, implementation and monitoring, and review. Work carried out included reviewing company-specific data, shadowing/interviewing employees, identifying the companies’ key strengths and issues, collaboratively agreeing company goals, developing plans of action, planning initiatives, and monitoring outcomes.
The project provides participating companies and the industry with insights on managing mental-ill health.
The insights are captured in the project outputs: main report, bespoke guidance, and cases studies. The companies have also benefited from improved competency on the use of data insights, investment in good practice, and measurement of impact.
Results of organisational-level interventions may not be realisable in the short term. Smaller changes, such as the measurement of mental health and increased senior leadership involvement, represent micro-level changes. These are expected to result in wider benefits in the medium to long term. Wider benefits include a reduction of costs associated with poor mental health (sickness absence and presenteeism) and increased employee retention.