October 10 is World Mental Health Day and with new UK data revealing a significant number of “warehouse workers ’mental health has suffered as a result of their job”, it is an issue which needs to be on the radar for the materials handling sector.

Research undertaken by warehouse management software company StoreFeeder, surveying 500 UK warehouse workers, found 42% believed their mental health suffered because of their job.

Alarmingly, this figure jumps to 60% for workers under the age of 35.

But the tide seems to be turning as awareness of mental health needs and issues increases.

“Restricting out-of-hours communication, regular internal communication, flexible working hours and access to wellbeing support are all improving the current landscape,” StoreFeeder states.

“The integration of technology is also having a significant impact on improving mental health.

“Going paperless, using PDAs to know where stock is located and the simplification of stock transfers individually has improved the mental health of over 40% of warehouse workers, while barcode scan despatch processes has improved the mental health of almost 50% of workers.”

The survey for this study was conducted in August.