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Half of hospitality workers think of suicide or self-harm at work
Mental health tool R;pple has polled workers in the hospitality industry to raise awareness on World Suicide Prevention Day today (10 September).
The survey included 2,010 UK hospitality workers – including chefs, bartenders, front of house and waiting staff – who were polled in August 2024.
The research found that three in five (59%) hospitality workers have struggled with their mental health at work, with one in two having thought of suicide, self-harm or other harmful, negative thoughts.
Of those respondents who rated their mental wellbeing as poor, 66% said their job was the main catalyst, listing long working hours, zero-hour contracts, high-stress environments and a ‘work hard/play hard’ mentality as key issues.
More than half (55%) of those who said they struggled with mental health conditions at work said they have searched for harmful online content in the workplace, with 19% having done so multiple times.
Almost two-thirds (61%) have been concerned about a colleague’s mental wellbeing and 75% were concerned that colleagues were accessing harmful content in the workplace.
R;pple is a technology solution that can be installed as a browser extension and onto WiFi networks. It intercepts harmful searches with guided breathing exercises and a selection of mental health services.
Alice Hendy MBE, founder of R;pple, said: “Most of us regularly interact with people in hospitality without any knowledge of the mental health crisis they might be facing, so these statistics are a stark reminder of the need for change.
“The positive news is mental health stigma is lifting, but we still found only around half of those concerned about a colleague encouraged them to talk. We need to make sure that everyone working in a highly affected sector like hospitality is protected by their employers in the workplace online, in the same way their health and safety is protected physically.”
R;pple is now campaigning for change and has partnered with UK bar chain Revolution and The Burnt Chef Project, a community for mental health support and education for the hospitality industry.
It is asking employers to sign up to its five commitments, which include suicide prevention training and tools for better communication.
Kris Hall, CEO and founder of The Burnt Chef Project, said: “It’s encouraging to see from this report that nearly 75% of individuals in the hospitality sector were able to seek support during a shift when they found themselves in a difficult mental space.
“This highlights the growing awareness of mental health issues within the industry and suggests that confidence is gradually increasing when it comes to addressing underlying mental health concerns.
“With 60% of hospitality workers feeling that their personal lives positively impact their mental wellbeing, reinforcing the critical role of work-life balance is key. Ensuring that team members have sufficient time outside of the workplace is crucial for overall better mental health.”
The reality of hospitality’s mental health problem
Speaking to The Spirits Business following the release of R;pple’s survey, Danielle James, head of pay and reward at Revolution Bars Group, emphasised that mental health impacts everyone in hospitality, including the on-trade: “The study said one in two hospitality workers – in reality that accounts for many front-of-house members of the team, as well as back of house and chefs – but it’s also members of management and support functions. It’s indiscriminate – mental health absolutely impacts the full on-trade indiscriminately.”
As for why the hospitality industry particularly struggles with these challenges, James believes there are many factors: “It’s a challenging industry, isn’t it? Hospitality offers some of the most fun and rewarding places to work – but they are also very fast-paced. There is clearly an indexing into alcohol and late nights. And typically it’s low-paying work – and we know that financial wellbeing can be a precursor to mental health challenges.”
Revolution has implemented R;pple across all of its sites. “It’s one of the easiest and most simple things that a business could do – just to safeguard those searches,” explained James. “The simplest thing you can do is make sure that when people are at their most vulnerable – which is seemingly while people are at work – there is a suitable intervention.”
As well as R;pple, the business has trained more than 160 managers in mental health first aid, meaning there is at least one mental health first aider in all of its 75 venues. Revolution employees can also access eight face-to-face counselling sessions for free.
According to James, communication is one of the biggest ways businesses can help. “As custodians of these brilliant places to work, these fun places and rewarding places to work, we have got to face the fact that it’s not all rosy,” she admitted. “It’s important to talk about it and to share stories – and that’s from the top down. Not being afraid to say ‘suicide’, not being afraid to talk about mental ill health – the only way we can continue to destigmatise it is by talking about it.”
Revolution was one of the first hospitality businesses to work with R;pple, after James discovered the tool when its founder Alice Hendy was nominated for an award. James had recently lost a colleague and friend. “She was a member of the people team – a learning and development trainer,” James explained. “She was really, really energetic and an amazing individual – and she died by suicide. I’d never heard of anything like R;pple, but it really resonated with me only a few months after losing a colleague.
“From my own personal experience and there also being two other colleagues within our business in the past couple of years who have died by suicide, I thought there was something with R;pple that we weren’t quite doing.
“I feel quite privileged to be able to share the story, and hopefully it really brings about some change. I want a huge call for action in hospitality and retail – it is very simple to do, and I think it is incumbent on us to start addressing some of these challenges.”
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