Guidelines in the Workplace
Dealing with mental health problems at work can be difficult.
There are so many issues to consider. How do you know someone is mentally ill? How do you broach issues of mental health? What are your rights and responsibilities? What are the rights and responsibilities of your staff? What are the occupational health and safety issues?
Mental health in the workplace requires thought at three levels:
1. Maintaining a healthy workplace
A healthy workplace is a workplace where employees feel valued and secure. It is workplace where stress is acknowledged. It is a workplace where employees feel they have some level of control over their lives, and over the work they do.
Do you have high staff turnover? High absenteeism? Low morale? These could be warnings signs of an unhealthy workplace.
2. Early detection
You can’t diagnose somebody with a mental health problem, nor should you try. But you may be able to pick up signs of potential problems, such as:
- lethargy in a previously energetic person
- a new pattern of unexplained lateness or absences
- a new inability to concentrate or to complete work.
There can be other explanations for these problems, such as unhappiness at work or problems at home. But they should at least raise the thought of mental health problems.
3. Early referral
If you think someone may have a mental health problem, doing nothing is not an option. It is your responsibility to try to help.
Talk to the employee. In private, and in a non-threatening manner, raise the issues that concern you, being specific about the behaviours or changes you’ve seen. This might be a difficult conversation, or it might be a great relief to your employee that somebody has noticed their problems and cares.
Maintain confidentiality: Nobody needs to know about your conversation unless they absolutely need to know.
Offer specific help. You could offer to find telephone helpline numbers, or websites, or help in seeing a doctor or mental health professional.
Mental health problems are common – if you have more than a few staff, then there are probably people with mental health problems among them. You can do something to help.
Follow us