07th March 2010 What can organisations do to improve the way they deal with mental health issues in the workplace?

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According to David Stevenson, Senior Occupational Health Adviser, at FirstCare there are some simple steps that organisations can take to support people with mental health issues. These include:

Introduce policies

Developing a mental health and wellbeing policy shows employees that the company recognises the importance of its workforce’s mental health and wellbeing.

Having an absence management policy will also create clear guidelines for managers and employees on the processes to follow when an individual is absent from work.

Finally, an equal opportunities policy should help avoid discrimination against employees with mental health problems both when recruiting and with existing members of staff. It will also ensure you consider making reasonable adjustments for employees whose condition may be Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) applicable.

Promotion of an appropriate work-life balance and policies

Implementing work-life balance practices, such as flexible working arrangements, and drafting policies won’t fulfil objectives unless they are communicated effectively. Ensure employees and line managers are regularly updated through a mixture of communications activity which could include reminders on the company intranet, briefings at team meetings and articles within internal newsletters.

Train staff

Having a clear policy in place and then training managers so that they can identify signs, symptoms and triggers for mental health problems will enable you to recognise when professional help is required and allow you to provide the appropriate support and advice.

Consider provision of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

An EAP is a worksite-focused programme to assist in the identification and resolution of employee concerns, which may or may not affect performance. Employees can contact the EAP in confidence to discuss any problems they are experiencing. In addition to this employers may also wish to consider funding face to face counselling to support an employee back to work, as NHS waiting times can sometimes be quite lengthy.

Occupational health

Referral on to Occupational Health specialists for assessment and advice to co-ordinate the management of employees’ health issues can be beneficial to both the business and employee.

With Occupational Health professionals having the combined knowledge of the individual’s medical condition and type of work, of which many doctors do not have access to, enables them to make a more informed decision about what the employee is capable of doing and advise on any reasonable adjustments the employer can make to help the employee back to productive work sooner.