Industry mental health crisis

The home improvement boom experienced during the pandemic was great for the window, door and conservatory industry.

Order books were bursting. While other business sectors struggled, fabricators and installers were hard pushed just to keep up with the volume of demand.

I spoke to one manufacturer recently that recalled taking a month’s worth of orders in just one week. On the face of it, we had a very good time of it – but managing such an intense workload for such an extended period of time has also proved extremely challenging for businesses and individuals.

The constant stress of high demand, combined with raw material supply, volatile pricing and staff shortages due to Covid has created a huge amount of pressure and we are now seeing the results of that in a new mental health survey that was carried out by the Double Glazing & Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme (DGCOS)

A staggering 60.5% of those polled believe there is a mental health crisis in the glazing industry and 76.3% admitted to experiencing ‘burnout’ from their workload.

Despite the apparent scale of the problem, half of respondents in the DGCOS survey said they had never confided in friends or work colleagues. Compared to mental health, the subject of pay was regarded as much less important.

For business owners, that last point should ring loud and clear. Your wellbeing and that of your staff should be an absolute priority if it is not already…