Lyndsay Moss: How business can help us cope with tough times ahead

Published on Monday 5 January 2009 19:21

AT THIS time of year, most people will have made resolutions to lead a healthier life in the next 12 months. Losing weight, drinking less, stopping smoking and exercising more will, no doubt, top the list of ways in which people will try to improve themselves in 2009.

These admirable goals are things over which we have some control. But, as we look ahead, the impact in areas on which we have less influence – such as whether we will lose our jobs and be able to pay the mortgage – is more concerning.

So, while we worry about our waistlines, a more pressing concern might be how our mental health suffers as a result of the economic slowdown. The Samaritans have warned that the financial crisis could lead to an increase in the suicide rate.

An analysis for the charity of previous recessions suggested a link between economic downturns and the level of suicides nationwide. It warned that the current situation could be much worse than in the past.

Unemployed people are two to three times more likely than those in employment to take their own lives. In the coming months, even those who do not lose their jobs will live under the shadow of potential unemployment, pay freezes and cutbacks in pension plans. All of these factors will lead to depression, stress, anxiety and, warn the Samaritans, in the worst cases, some people will feel so helpless they see suicide as their only option.

Forget the collapse of the banks – this is by far the most tragic outcome of the financial crisis.

There is no doubt that the UK and Scottish governments, along with the NHS, need to plan to provide help for an increasing number of people who will develop mental health problems as a result of the crisis that failing financial institutions have got us into.

But private companies also need to consider their own actions and the effects they have on mental and general health, and act responsibly.

Last week, two companies took action that some claim could exacerbate an already bad situation.

JD Wetherspoon, which has about 40 pubs in Scotland and more than 700 in the UK, cut the price of a pint of some beers to 99p in recognition of the difficulties its cash-strapped drinkers face in the current climate. This is fine in principle – I have nothing against people who drink sensibly enjoying a cheaper pint and worrying a bit less about the cost of a night out. But many, particularly younger drinkers, will see this as is an invitation to get drunk for only a few quid.

All the evidence shows that the price of alcohol is closely linked to how much people drink. The supermarkets have long slashed prices on alcohol, using it as a loss-leader to get people into their stores. Now the pubs appear to be joining in, albeit with the apparently noble intention of helping those hit by the financial downturn.

Last week also saw train companies across the UK, including our beloved ScotRail, put up their prices (yet again), with the promise (yet again) that more money going into their coffers will improve services.

In Scotland, this means that an off-peak return from Glasgow to Edinburgh now costs 10.40, while a peak ticket is just shy of 19.

At these prices, you might expect to step on to something akin to the Orient Express, rather than the cold and overcrowded train carriage, which often smells like an extension of the toilet, that greets many commuters on a daily basis.

The difference between the price of peak and off-peak tickets seems designed to punish those who have a job, meaning they cannot wait for the cheaper fare, which would get them into work just in time for lunch.

So what do these measures tell us about how to survive the economic downturn? Well, at its most extreme, it seems to suggest that you might as well drink yourself into oblivion and not bother going to work (or, if you do, start hitch-hiking.)

With the present economic outlook so bleak, is it too much to ask for the UK's business community to start using a little common sense when taking decisions that will, ultimately, impact on our nation's physical and mental health?