Mental health in the workplace

Did you know that one in six workers in the UK suffer a mental health problem every year? 70 billion working days are lost to mental health conditions annually, at a huge cost to employers. But many organisations still struggle to deal with mental health effectively in their workplace. Mental health is still a taboo subject and many people feel uncomfortable talking about it, acknowledging it or dealing with it. Many employees conceal mental health concerns because they fear a negative, unsupportive or even discriminatory response. Managers feel much more comfortable dealing with physical illness as they feel as though they know where they are and how to deal with it.

But not addressing mental health effectively is short-sighted and can have a huge impact on absence rates, productivity, performance levels, employee wellbeing and morale, turnover and also your reputation as an employer. So it is something you need to think about.

Mental health conditions are not automatically considered disabilities under the Equality Act but they can be

As with many workplace problems, a proactive approach to mental health is by far the most effective way of dealing with it. Prevention is better than cure. The workplace environment can cause or exacerbate mental health problems to a greater extent than it can physical illness or conditions. While on the one hand that is a worrying thought, actually it is empowering as it means forward-thinking employers are in a position where their actions can have a real positive impact on the health of their employees.

Being proactive about mental health in your organisation does not mean spending lots of money. It is about attitude, education and awareness, all of which can be improved without significant financial investment. There are also lots of practical steps you can take to reduce the impact. For instance, include mental health awareness in your health and safety programme. When conducting risk assessments, be aware of areas of your business where there is a risk to mental health. These might be employees working on their own a lot of the time, roles where long hours are a regular feature or where employees have little or no control over their work. Identifying and addressing risk factors early on is crucial in avoiding serious problems. If a risk assessment does identify a potential concern, involve the employee/s in question in discussions about how best to mitigate that risk.

Try to foster a workplace culture where employees feel involved, valued and have their achievements acknowledged and their personal development prioritised. Ensure they have at least some control over what they are doing at work, even for the most routine or mundane tasks where possible. Promote a good work-life balance by accommodating flexible working where you can, and by making sure employees are not pressured (or do not feel pressured) to work long hours. Ensure employees are encouraged to raise concerns about their health (or anything else), and feel confident that concerns will be listened to, taken seriously and addressed quickly and effectively. All of these things are proven to have a significant impact on employee wellbeing and satisfaction at work, and are key features in a successful proactive approach to mental health at work.

Then do what you can to remove taboos around mental health. You could consider in-house training for staff; alternatively discussion groups can be good just to get employees talking about mental health and what it means in a safe environment. Ensure that managers follow a supportive, inclusive and communicative approach to management, prioritise development of their staff and take an active role in ensuring good work-life balance in their teams. Make sure they are aware of their responsibilities in terms of the proactive measures you are putting in place and in terms of the organisation’s legal obligations towards those with mental health problems. Mental health conditions are not automatically considered disabilities under the Equality Act but they can be, depending on the level of impact they have on the employee’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Alternatively, they may become disabilities over a period of time as the impact they have grows or simply lasts for longer.

If a serious mental health problem does present in your workplace, this may come hand in hand with long absence or absences. If this does happen, establish good communication with the staff member, ideally taking into account their preferences with regards to frequency and type of communication. Educate yourself about the condition in question. Most people have a lower level of general knowledge about mental health conditions than they do about physical illnesses, which can result in misconceptions or poor handling of a situation, but there are lots of resources available to assist greater awareness such as the Mind website.

Be open to considering adjustments to workload, working environment, working hours or location in order to support your employee and enable a rapid and sustainable return to work. Take medical advice from the employee’s own doctor or an occupational health provider so that you are fully informed about what workplace factors might exacerbate the condition.

Taking a proactive and forward-thinking approach is something every organisation can (and should) do, and should result in a reduced impact of mental health conditions on your workplace. Combining this with increasing awareness and a sensitive and appropriate handling of problems when they do occur will have positive side-effects on general employee wellbeing and satisfaction levels. This in turn will have an impact on performance, productivity, turnover and absence rates in general.

Eleanor Deem is Managing Director of face2faceHR.
www.face2facehr.com