Mental Health in the workplace is a significant issue that impacts both Employers and Employees. Statistics show that signs of burnout are becoming more common (63% of UK employees showing symptoms of exhaustion and disengagement). Also 47% of employees believe that improving communication on mental health in the workplace would significantly improve their wellbeing at work.
HR can play a vital role in supporting mental health in the workplace; using tools such a policy, culture and communication.
In Part 1 of this blog we will identify the ways HR can support Mental Health in the workplace, part 2 will go into more detail on how to implement these into your business.
Mental Health Policy
Most organisations will have a Sickness Absence Policy, that will give the detail on what to do if you need to phone in sick, what your sick pay might be, and how your absence will be managed. But this is for all types of sickness, mental and physical. If an employee has gone off sick, and this is the first place your policies mention mental health then you have addressed mental health too late (or not at all!).
Having a separate mental health policy that deals with the early signs such as exhaustion and disengagement will open the communication on mental health at a much earlier stage. The policy should provide practical methods of support such as any Employee Assistance Programs that are available, any Mental Health First Aiders the company has, or detail where mental health discussions might take place, such as in appraisals or regular one to ones.
Embedding the Mental Health Policy into other processes will reduce the stigma and focus on early intervention.
Work Life Balance
This isn’t just being able to work from home when you feel like staying in your pjs!
Understanding how people best thrive and when they are productive is key to their mental health. If you have someone who naturally wakes up early and can be productive and engaged from the early hours but then struggles past mid-afternoon – forcing them into a 9-5 is not got any benefit to either party. Others may need to get some personal to-do’s ticked off first before they switch into work mode (walk the dog, put a load of washing on) so a slightly later time may give them the opportunity to do this and then be fully focused on work for the rest of the day.
Your staff also need to feel that they have the right to switch off, the downside to working outside of the traditional 9-5 is that employees can feel the pressure to be available at all hours and actually end up working more than if there were strict start and finish times. It is important to set expectations for clients and colleagues about when they can be contacted and when they are expected to reply.
Give your managers knowledge
Just as coping with mental health concerns at work as an employee can be difficult, being a manager and managing such sensitive cases can also be tough.
Managers should be trained to help them recognise the sign of their team suffering with mental health concerns, often others can spot it before the individual, and the earlier the intervention the better. Managers should also be trained to respond empathetically and have the knowledge to be able to sign post them to the right support if needed, or to work with them on any adjustments they may need.
Managers should also be encouraged to lead by behaviour, for example in taking time off, setting boundaries and in their communication.
Assess and Evaluate
It is one thing putting policies and processes in place, but you need to check that they are working and that they are of benefit to your staff.
Quite often benefits such as Employee Assistance Programs can be put in with all good intention but if the staff don’t use them, they will not get the benefit. If you are putting support systems in place to reduce absence related to mental health but don’t monitor your absence levels, then you won’t be able to tell if things are working.
Of course we don’t expect you as a business owner to have to put all this in place by yourself, Slice HR are here to help and can design and implement bespoke solutions for you and your staff.
Watch this space for a part 2 of this blog to put this theory into practice and implement these key processes into your business.