Guest blog by John Gilham, Head of Corporate Development at Gambling Education Network
Would you know if a family member, friend, or employee was suffering from gambling disorder? Unlike alcohol or drug addiction, where individuals show associated visual signs of their addiction, those suffering from gambling disorder are less visible and generally invisible. In many cases where individuals take their own life, family members say they had no idea they were gambling. The World Health Organization states that: "The gambling related burden of harm appears to be of a similar magnitude to major depressive disorder and alcohol misuse and dependence. It is substantially higher than harm attributed to drug dependence disorder."
What impact does this have on one's mental state? Many people say gambling or gambling-related activities was constantly on their mind - for example, looking for loans to fund the next bet - and that they found it very difficult to concentrate on anything else. General performance and health declines and if you link this to sleep deprivation (either caused by playing online games through the night or lying in bed at night worrying about the consequences of their disorder) then I suggest people are in a mentally fragile state where they are prone to making errors.
What might this mean to a business?
- Risk: If your business requires your employees to perform tasks that require high levels of concentration, then could this be increasing product or service defects? In the worst-case scenario, this could result in an incident or accident leading to injury or fatality.
- Brand: Could your business brand be damaged as a result? What damage would this do to your company image and to the wellbeing of your employees?
- Productivity: If your employees are not focusing on the task required to be delivered, then it is likely their productivity will be less. If they are using technology as part of their work activities, could they in fact be spending less time working and some of their work time gambling online? With mobile phones being one of the main modes for doing work and also for gambling online how would you know?
- Staff Wellbeing: If you are committed to staff wellbeing do your policies and culture enable and encourage your staff to feel safe enough to discuss their disorder? If not, you may find your sickness levels being increased and your risks increasing.
- Incident/Accident Reporting and Investigating Procedures: Do these look at the human factor and, if they do, how do they assess the individual's mental health wellbeing at the time.
Occupational health practitioners aim to know if gambling disorders are a factor affecting the health of a person referred and help organisations improve the wellbeing of someone with gambling disorder. Whereas an employer can introduce random blood sampling to monitor alcohol or drug intake to mitigate this risk, this cannot be done for gambling.
Many of those I have met in recovery are becoming or have become more successful in their employment life. This suggests to me that employers can get a win: win by doing the right thing.
I am aware that by writing this post some employers could just try to identify and dismiss those with gambling disorder from the organisation. The stigma around gambling often portrays individuals as selfish and weak. This is not true. This fails to recognise that this disorder needs treatment and support like any other. Also, such an approach will fail to reduce organisational risk. In fact, in my opinion, it will increase it. I am hopeful that there are more employers who truly care about their staff's wellbeing. Recognising that they are key to their success and by looking after them when they need help, they in return will do their best for their employer.
If you would like to discuss gambling disorder further with people who have lived experience, contact John Gilham, Head of Corporate Development at Gambling Education Network john@gamblingeducationnetwork.com
