Addressing Mental Health and Loneliness in the UK Construction Industry!

A construction site can be one of the busiest places imaginable. People are moving in every direction, radios are going off, trades are working alongside each other and somebody always needs an answer.

Yet a person can spend the whole day surrounded by people and still feel completely alone.

Loneliness is not always the absence of company. Sometimes it is the absence of genuine connection. It is having people around you but nobody you feel able to speak to. It is laughing along with the banter while quietly struggling, then returning to a hotel room or an empty house with everything still sitting inside your head.

Construction currently supports around 2.2 million jobs in the UK. These workers build our homes, hospitals, schools, workplaces and infrastructure. The industry depends on their skill, attention and commitment, yet many still work within a culture where emotional honesty can feel risky.

Strength has traditionally been linked with silence. You turn up, get the job done and deal with personal problems in your own time. For some people, that approach works for a while. For others, the pressure continues building until staying quiet becomes more dangerous than speaking.

Mental health and loneliness cannot be treated as separate issues. Isolation makes stress harder to carry, while poor mental health can cause people to withdraw from the relationships that might otherwise support them. If the construction industry wants healthier people and safer sites, it must take both seriously.

The Current Mental Health Picture in Construction

The original version of this article used figures from earlier CIOB research. The organisation has since published its 2025 update on mental health in the built environment, giving the industry a more current picture.

The updated findings remain deeply concerning:

• 80% experienced stress often or sometimes during the previous year.
• 83% experienced anxiety.
• 60% experienced depression.
• Around one quarter reported suicidal thoughts during the previous year.
  
  

These percentages represent people who may still be turning up, meeting deadlines and appearing completely fine. A person does not have to be absent from work or visibly distressed to be struggling.

The reasons are woven into the way construction operates. Tight deadlines, long hours, financial insecurity, late payments, physical exhaustion and time away from home can all increase pressure. Project-based work means teams change frequently, and subcontracting can make it difficult for workers to know what support applies to them or who they can trust.

CIOB has also highlighted the industry’s cultural barriers. Some workers fear that speaking about poor mental health could affect their reputation, future work or the way colleagues see them. When somebody believes honesty may cost them their livelihood, silence can feel like the safest option available.

Suicide in Construction Is Still a Serious Concern

Construction continues to carry a disproportionate risk of suicide. Provisional occupational data from the Office for National Statistics recorded 355 suicides among people working in skilled construction and building trades in England and Wales in 2024.

CIOB describes male construction workers as around three times more likely to die by suicide than people working in other industries. That difference cannot be explained by one cause. Suicide is complex, and every person’s life contains different experiences, relationships and pressures. However, the working environment still matters. Long hours, unstable income, relationship breakdown, chronic pain, addiction, isolation and the belief that men should manage alone can accumulate. A person may cope with each pressure separately, then reach a point where everything feels impossible at once.

We should be careful not to reduce suicide prevention to simply telling people to speak. Reaching out requires trust. Workers need to believe they will be listened to, that confidentiality will be respected and that asking for help will lead towards useful support rather than judgement.

The Hidden Toll of Loneliness

In 2023, a survey commissioned by NESCAFÉ as part of its Make Chat Work campaign found that 47% of UK construction workers felt lonely at work. The survey involved 350 construction workers and tradespeople working in UK small and medium-sized businesses.

That context matters because loneliness is difficult to measure, but the finding still reveals something the industry should not ignore. Almost half of those workers felt lonely while working in an environment that often appears highly social.

The same research found that 79% believed opportunities to talk with colleagues during breaks would help them feel less lonely. The answer is not necessarily another major wellbeing programme. Sometimes it begins with protecting enough time for people to stop, have a drink and speak to each other without being rushed back to work.

Working Away From Home

Many construction workers travel to follow projects. They may spend Monday to Friday in hotels, temporary accommodation or unfamiliar towns, then return home carrying washing and exhaustion before leaving again.

Video calls help people stay connected, but they cannot replace every part of being present with partners, children, friends or community. Important moments are missed. Relationships can become strained, and the worker may feel caught between earning money for the family and being absent from family life.

Evenings can be particularly difficult. The site has gone quiet, everybody has gone their separate ways and there is little structure beyond eating, scrolling, drinking or trying to sleep. Without healthy ways to connect and decompress, loneliness can deepen.

Temporary Teams and Subcontracting

Project-based work can create strong short-term relationships, but those connections may disappear as soon as the project ends. A worker can move between sites for years without developing the stable support network that often exists in a permanent workplace.

Subcontractors and agency workers may also feel outside the main team. They attend the same site and face the same pressures, yet may not receive the same wellbeing information, invitations or access to support. Nobody should become invisible because of the name on their payslip or the way their labour is contracted.

Loneliness in Leadership

Isolation is not limited to people on the tools. Managers and business owners can feel unable to speak because they believe they must always have the answer. They support the workforce, manage clients and carry responsibility for budgets and programmes, while having few places to admit that they are overwhelmed.

Seniority can create distance. The more responsibility somebody carries, the more cautious they may become about showing uncertainty. Leaders need trusted peers and confidential support too.

The Cost of Staying Silent

Poor mental health affects the person first, but the consequences spread through teams, families and organisations.

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that work-related stress, depression and anxiety caused 22.1 million working days to be lost across Great Britain in 2024/25. This is not a construction-only figure, so it should not be presented as one. It does, however, show the scale of work-related mental ill health across the economy.

Silence can contribute to absence, presenteeism and staff turnover. Presenteeism happens when somebody remains at work but cannot perform at their usual level because they are unwell. They may be physically present while concentration, judgement and motivation are severely affected.

In construction, those effects can become safety-critical. A worker who has slept badly for weeks, is distracted by anxiety or feels emotionally numb may struggle to process changing conditions. They could miss an instruction, overlook a hazard or react more slowly around tools, plant or live services.

Mental wellbeing is therefore part of physical safety. Employers already have a legal duty to assess and manage work-related stress. HSE’s stress risk-assessment guidance gives organisations a practical framework for identifying the causes and reducing harm.

Why One Honest Conversation Can Matter

A genuine conversation cannot remove debt, cure depression or repair a difficult relationship. It can interrupt isolation.

When somebody asks, “How are you really doing?” and gives the other person time to answer, they communicate that the struggle does not have to remain hidden. That first moment of honesty can lead towards a GP, counsellor, helpline, addiction service or practical workplace adjustment.

Open conversation also changes team relationships. People become more likely to raise concerns, admit mistakes and ask questions. Trust improves because workers no longer have to spend as much energy protecting an image of being permanently fine.

This does not mean everyone must share personal information at work. Nobody should be pressured into discussing their mental health publicly. A healthy culture gives people choices: somebody safe to approach, a confidential route to professional help and the confidence that disclosure will be treated respectfully.

Building a Culture Where Everybody Belongs

Construction remains male-dominated, but mental health support must work for everyone. Women, LGBTQ+ workers, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled workers and neurodivergent people may carry additional pressures caused by exclusion, discrimination or feeling they have to hide part of themselves.

Inclusion affects mental health because belonging affects mental health. When people are repeatedly left out, underestimated or made into the subject of jokes, they receive a message about their place in the team. Over time, that message can damage confidence and make speaking up feel unsafe.

Policies matter, but people experience culture through everyday moments. Who gets invited into conversations? Whose ideas are taken seriously? What happens when banter crosses a line? Does a manager challenge exclusion, or look away because dealing with it feels uncomfortable?

Onward Shift explores these questions further in Inclusion in the Construction Industry. An inclusive site does not require everybody to share the same background or beliefs. It requires people to treat each other with dignity, remain curious and allow others to work without hiding who they are.

Seven Practical Steps Towards a More Connected Industry

1. Assess the Causes of Stress

Begin with work design. Review workloads, deadlines, staffing, communication, travel and time away from home. Ask workers what is creating pressure and involve them in deciding what needs to change. A wellbeing policy has little credibility when the organisation ignores the conditions making people unwell. Prevention should sit alongside support.

2. Train Managers Without Turning Them Into Therapists

Supervisors and site managers should know how to recognise changes in behaviour, begin a respectful conversation and direct somebody towards appropriate help. Mental Health First Aid and awareness training can build confidence, and the Lighthouse Wellbeing Academy provides construction-focused learning. Training has boundaries. A mental health first aider is not a counsellor, and managers should not be expected to diagnose or treat people. Their role is to listen, respond safely and connect the worker with professional support.

3. Make Check-Ins Consistent and Genuine

Check-ins work best when they are part of normal leadership rather than triggered only by a visible crisis. Ask open questions during one-to-ones or quieter moments, and listen without immediately trying to fix everything. Workers quickly recognise when a wellbeing question is being asked to complete a form. Trust develops when leaders remember what was said, follow up and take action where they can.

4. Protect Breaks and Create Time for Connection

Breaks help people recover physically, but they also create opportunities for belonging. Give teams somewhere clean and comfortable to sit. Avoid scheduling every minute so tightly that conversation becomes impossible. For workers who spend time alone or away from home, consider buddy systems, regular calls and informal team activities that do not revolve entirely around alcohol. Onward Shift’s free Walk & Talk events offer a low-pressure way for people in and around construction to connect while moving outdoors.

5. Make Professional Support Easy to Reach

Counselling, Employee Assistance Programmes, helplines and crisis services should be clearly signposted and available without a complicated approval process. Explain confidentiality rather than assuming workers understand it. Display support information in private spaces as well as public noticeboards. Put it inside welfare facilities, locker doors, payslips and digital platforms so somebody can access it discreetly. Onward Shift’s free construction mental health poster can help make that first route visible.

6. Include the Whole Workforce

Wellbeing support should cover employees, subcontractors, agency staff, apprentices and people moving between sites. Ask whether resources are understandable and accessible to workers with different languages, literacy levels, disabilities and working patterns.

Tailored support does not mean separating people. It means recognising that one method will not work for everyone.

7. Let Leaders Show That They Are Human

When senior people speak honestly about stress, therapy, bereavement or a period when they needed help, they challenge the belief that successful people never struggle. This should never become forced vulnerability or a performance. A simple, honest acknowledgement can be enough. The most important part is what leaders do afterwards: protect confidentiality, respond with empathy and change harmful conditions when they have the power to do so.

How Technology Can Improve Access Without Replacing Human Connection

Digital tools can make help easier to find, especially for workers who move between sites, work irregular hours or do not feel ready to speak face to face. A QR code can lead to a helpline, short breathing exercise, podcast, counselling page or guidance on helping a colleague.

Technology must be used carefully. Workers need to know what information is private and whether an employer can see their activity. A mental health platform should increase access to support, not create another form of monitoring.

Onward Shift brings construction-focused blogs, podcasts, newsletters, coaching, counselling, events and workplace resources into one place. These resources can help somebody understand what they are experiencing and identify a possible next step. They work best when supported by real people and a workplace culture that makes asking for help safe.

The Business Case for Investing in Mental Health

Supporting mental health is a human responsibility, but there is a clear economic case as well.

Deloitte’s latest UK analysis estimates that employers receive an average return of around £4.70 for every £1 invested in workforce mental health and wellbeing. The strongest returns tend to come from earlier, organisation-wide action rather than waiting until somebody reaches crisis.

In construction, that investment can support retention, concentration, communication and safer decision-making. It may reduce absence and presenteeism, but the value cannot be measured only through productivity. Preventing one person from feeling abandoned carries a human value no spreadsheet can fully capture.

Looking Ahead: From a Culture of Silence to a Culture of Care

Construction will always need strength. It needs people who can solve problems, handle responsibility and continue when the work becomes difficult. We need to broaden what strength means.

Strength can include admitting that you are exhausted. It can mean calling somebody from a hotel room instead of drinking alone. It can be a manager challenging cruel banter, a supervisor protecting a break or a colleague staying for five more minutes because “You alright?” did not receive a convincing answer.

The industry does not need everybody to become a mental health expert. It needs people who are willing to notice, listen and act. It needs organisations prepared to reduce harmful pressure and make professional support accessible before somebody reaches breaking point.

At Onward Shift, the aim is to help construction workers, companies and education providers find honest conversation, practical resources and judgement-free support. Every blog, podcast, walk, talk and counselling session is another way of reminding people that they are part of something and do not have to struggle alone.

If this article made you think of somebody, check in with them. If it reminded you of yourself, choose one person or service you can contact.

Take a deep breath. You do not need to explain everything perfectly, and you do not need to solve it all today.

Start with connection. Sometimes that is the first step back towards hope.