Building a Resilient Workforce: Why Workplace Mental Health Matters in Northern Ireland

For employers across Northern Ireland, World Mental Health Day should be more than an opportunity to remind staff that support is available. It is a useful moment to consider a more fundamental question: what does a resilient workforce actually look like?

On 10 October, World Mental Health Day 2026 will focus on the voices and experiences of people living with mental health conditions, with the World Health Organisation calling for lived experience to have a meaningful role in shaping policies, services, and decisions. That principle has relevance well beyond the health service. It applies to workplaces too.

Northern Ireland's labour market faces a particular set of pressures. The latest NISRA figures show that 285,000 people aged 16 to 64 were economically inactive in 2025, representing 24.1% of the working-age population. More recent quarterly figures show that long-term sickness remains the most common reason for economic inactivity, accounting for 114,000 people aged 16 to 64 in October to December 2025. 

These figures underline why workforce resilience cannot simply mean helping people cope with difficult circumstances. It also means looking at whether the workplace itself is contributing to poor health.

Research from the CIPD found that a quarter of employees in Northern Ireland said work negatively affected their mental health. In the same research, 20% said they were always or often under excessive pressure, while high workloads, stress, exhaustion, and workplace relationships were identified as factors associated with poorer health outcomes. For employers, that points towards a more preventative approach.

Employee assistance programmes and access to counselling have an important role, but they cannot compensate for excessive workloads, poor management, a lack of control over working patterns, or a culture where people feel unable to speak honestly about how they are coping. Building a resilient workforce starts with understanding those pressures.

Line managers are particularly important. They are often the first people to notice changes in behaviour, performance, attendance, or engagement. Giving managers the confidence and training to have supportive conversations can make it easier for employees to seek help before problems become more serious.

It also means creating practical flexibility where possible, making reasonable adjustments, reviewing workloads, and ensuring that returning from mental ill health is treated as a supported process rather than simply a return to business as usual.

There is a strong organisational case for this. Across the UK, CIPD's 2025 research found that mental ill health was the leading cause of long-term absence reported by employers, while the average level of sickness absence reached 9.4 days per employee, its highest level in more than 15 years. 

Northern Ireland's own Mental Health Strategy recognises the importance of prevention, resilience, early intervention, and support, while its 2026-29 review identifies strengthening the mental health workforce as a particular priority. Businesses have a role to play alongside government and health services.

This World Mental Health Day, the most useful conversation may therefore be less about resilience as an individual quality and more about resilience as something organisations can help create.

A resilient workforce is not one that never struggles. It is one where people can acknowledge when they are struggling, managers know how to respond, and the organisation is prepared to address the conditions that may be making things harder in the first place.

To discuss any aspect, please contact Donal Laverty, Consulting Partner E: donallaverty@bakertillymm.co.uk