Five Ways to Support Mental Health in the Workplace 

This World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2022, Alex Minett, Head of Products and Markets at CHAS, offers five steps companies can take to make the workplace more inclusive for workers who have experienced mental health issues.

Alex Minett, Head of Products and Markets at CHAS

A RECENT position statement published by The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) calls for better workplace support when it comes to meeting mental health challenges to help people with mental health issues return to and stay in work.

Latest statistics from the HSE put stress, anxiety and depression as the leading causes of sick leave, accounting for 50% of ill health absences. This is a 6% increase on pre-pandemic levels, however figures were already on the rise in 2019.

Employers can play a significant role in providing mental health support not only to safeguard their workers’ wellbeing but to support business security and productivity too. Here’s how:

1. Create a culture of openness

One of the biggest barriers to addressing mental health is the ongoing stigma perpetuated by it being an invisible problem.

The best way to create normalcy is to get people talking. The RCPsych report puts the onus on workplace leaders to start the conversation, recommending “that those in supervisory positions, from the most junior upwards, feel confident enough to identify potential mental health difficulties in their staff and to speak with them about such difficulties.”

Whether this message is communicated through one-to-ones, informal forums, structured training or toolbox talks, the aim is to open up discussions around mental wellbeing so that an employee doesn’t suffer in silence. If you’re struggling with your mental health, speak to a professional about depression today.

2. Offer flexibility and support

According to mental health charity, MIND, studies consistently show that employees who feel valued and supported at work will have higher health and wellbeing levels leading to fewer mental health challenges.

Being able to offer an improved work-life balance is within the remit of the employer. Where possible, consider offering remote or flexible working that balances employees’ individual needs with the business’s running. However, isolation can be a key factor in mental health issues, so remote work comes with its own risk assessment requirements.

Other positive steps include allowing employees to attend medical appointments during working hours for counselling and support services. As with any illness, employees returning to work following mental health-related sickness absence should be offered phased returns, return to work assessments and access to training to catch up on any career development they may have missed.

3. Review workplace policies and procedures 

All relevant HR policies, including health and safety, sickness absence, grievance policies etc, should be joined up in their approach to mental health.

HR leaders should be aware that mental health issues could contribute to incidents leading to disciplinary action and performance management. They should also consider the impact of dismissal and redundancy on individuals by ensuring that appropriate support and access to advocates are available for those who need them.

In terms of legislation, the Equality Act 2010 considers it a disability if someone has “a mental impairment that has a substantial, adverse, and long-term effect on [their] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

This means that employees with a mental health disability have the legal right to request reasonable adjustment changes to their job and receive protection from discrimination, victimisation and harassment.

4. Lead from the top

Managers are in a unique position to send a clear message to staff about the importance of workplace wellbeing. They should prioritise understanding the triggers for workplace mental health issues, which may include working long hours without breaks, to overly pressurised working environments.

They can then take steps to tackle where these issues may arise in their organisations by, for example, actively encouraging and role modelling healthy working habits.

Staff forums and surveys are also useful for employers to take stock of their current approaches to mental wellbeing and identify where improvements are needed.

5. Strive to be better

Promoting a business-wide mental wellbeing strategy signals a serious commitment to mental wellbeing, particularly when looking through the lens of a broader fairness, inclusion and respect (FIR) approach to working practices, which include mental health among its many other topics. A strategy should centre around promoting staff wellbeing, identifying the causes of work-related mental health problems and what support staff need.

Undertaking the CHAS FIR growth assessment will set a benchmark for what employers are doing now against what more they need to do to achieve industry best practice and ultimately become industry leaders in supporting mental health challenges in the workplace.

>> Read more about mental health awareness in the news