Managing Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing

Managing Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing

 

What are your responsibilities?

All Employers have a ‘duty of care’ towards their Employees. This means doing all you reasonably can to support your Employees ‘ health, safety, and wellbeing.

This would include:

• Ensuring your Employees can work safely and healthily
• Protecting them from discrimination, for example making sure reasonable adjustments are considered for Employees with a disability
• Carrying out risk assessments

 

In a nutshell as an Employer, you should do all you reasonably can to encourage positive mental health.

For example, you may find it helpful to:

• Arrange extra mental health training for you as a business owner or a Line Manager and Employees
• Appoint mental health ‘champions’ who Employees can talk to
• Promote existing well-being support, such as counselling

 

Business owners or  Line Managers must communicate regularly and support Employees if they need to have sensitive conversations find out more about mental health and the law.

 

How should you communicate with your Employees?

Your Employees can feel anxious, worried, and upset so you should acknowledge any concerns and reassure them, you should make it clear how you will support them in the short term by doing this you will build trust and alleviate their worries.

The way in which you communicate is important along with it being regular and open, we are all aware that the pandemic changed our lives, and the way worked and approached the pandemic most certainly took its toll on so many people. It is important that Employees keep abreast of changes, not just in ways of working, but the health and well-being of people, policies, and the style of communication will most certainly help.

Employees should be kept up to date about important workplace updates, this may be any changes in your stance to work, perhaps hybrid, remote and any other types of working you may be changing, you should take into account that mental health and well-being is super important, even more so now and that you or you can signpost them should they need support.

You can help your Employees feel reassured by:

• Communicating openly, asking for their views, and sharing information in a highly visible location, for example on the intranet, or by emailing all Employees
• ‘Consulting’ with Employees (asking for and considering their views) so they can give feedback and share concerns, this is particularly important when making important changes such as a proposal to remove a hybrid working model
• Providing timely information so Employees are regularly updated

 

Business owners or Line Managers should be kept fully up to speed and up to date, this is imperative so that they can share information with their teams.

If Employees have concerns about mental health and well-being, they are more likely to talk to their Line Manager.

Your important information is better communicated in a clear, concise, and straightforward way, you can do this with empathy, by doing this it will help avoid panic and reassure Employees.

Where you have available resources and support you should offer and signpost them clearly. This may be for example, an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offering Employees counselling or ‘drop-in’ sessions with a third party to talk through any issues.

 

How can you assess mental health in your workplace?

You can gather feedback from your Line Managers to understand how their teams are coping, which resources are helpful, and if they require any more support.

If you have an online area where Employees can share information or updates it may be useful to look through it to understand Employees’ concerns and areas where they need more support.

You could also use or create well-being surveys to gain insight into how Employees are feeling.

 

What support is available? 

Mental Health takes its toll on Employees and in turn, has a detrimental impact on businesses, to add to this as a business owner you may feel out of your depth or overwhelmed trying to manage mental health in your workplace, nobody is expecting you to be an expert, just to have an understanding, to be in a position to support, communicate, and signpost your Employees for the help they need.

There are many experts in mental health, and knowing who to turn to can be difficult at times, as a business owner the important thing to remember is the basic principle of knowing what support is available and who can help.

You may find that Employee representatives (champions) can assist you in your workplace, and you may want to establish this support to help you.

Here are a couple of resources you may find of use, these are support services that can help you improve mental health in your workplace, for example:

• Mindful Employer– workplace mental health training, information, and advice
• Remploy– provides a free Access to Work Mental Health Support Service to improve mental well-being in the workplace

 

What training is available on mental health?

ACAS provides practical mental health training courses which you may find useful, and this can help business owners and Line Managers to:

 

• Recognise signs and symptoms of mental health conditions
• Have conversations about mental health with more confidence
• Identify and address issues earlier
• Support Employee well-being, both remotely and in the workplace

 

 

Book mental health training for Managers, or arrange training tailored for your workplace.

 

 

How can we help you?

At HR and You Ltd we offer you advice, support, and guidance and can do this in many ways, you can speak to us at any time by contacting us on: 0333 0069489 or email us at [email protected]

We also offer a wide range of Retained HR Support packages, these offer you the freedom and peace of mind that your HR and Employment law needs are taken care of, whether you have in-house HR or not, unlike many other providers we have you covered 365/24 7 days of the week.

 

 

Disclaimer

This article contains a general overview of information only. It does not constitute, and should not be relied upon, as legal advice. You should consult a suitably qualified lawyer on any specific legal problem or matter.

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This document is intended to serve as general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. The application and impact of laws can vary widely based on the specific facts involved. This document should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional legal or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a HR and You Ltd Consultant or a member of our legal team.

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