Practical Ways HR can help mental health in the workplace
In Part 1 of this blog identified 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.
Research shows that less than 1 in 5 people are aware of their employer having a mental health and wellbeing policy.
But it is one thing having a policy, but another to make it a working document within your organisation that employees understand and that managers can support their teams with.
It is important to share the policies across all employees, it should be accessible so that they can refer to it when they need and have up to date contact details for support.
The policy can be used in new starter inductions to advise employees how mental health is supported in the workplace and used in line manager training, upskilling managers on mental health awareness.
It also needs to be regularly reviewed to ensure that it is up to date and fit for purpose.
Work Life Balance
It is important to set expectations and boundaries when it comes to flexible working. What is acceptable can mean different things to different teams. As well as supporting your employees needs to you also need to make sure you have a successful company!
It may be that you need to set core hours when employees must be working, this could be at your peak contact time, or when your suppliers and clients are open. If allowing working from home, you may set check in calls so that the team element is not lost or have key team meetings in person so as not to lose the face-to-face element.
Having a policy that details your expectations will ensure your employees are fully informed as to what is required of them. It should also cover what to do in the event of illness and flexible working and what to do if they need to make a change, short term or long term.
Communication is a big part of achieving work life balance, a close second is trust. If you have a culture where both are recognised, then you are well on your way to positively supporting your employee’s mental health.
Give your managers knowledge
There is various way you can train your managers. As we have mentioned, as a minimum they need to understand your mental health policy. The next step you can look at is eLearning courses that can give more scenario-based learning to help managers spot the signs of someone struggling and tools for having conversations with those who need help.
A further step is to become a Mental Health First Aider; they can then provide initial support to someone who is struggling and can be the advocate for mental health in the workplace.
Assess and Evaluate
But mental health on the agenda! Mental Health can affect the performance of your employees therefore it has a direct link to the success of your business. Looking at how well you are discussing it, offering support and reporting on it as a KPI will embed it into your strategic actions and remove the stigma.
We’ve said it before but we’ll say it again – 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.