Dealing with an employee during a period of their poor mental health can be really tricky. As a small business owner and an employer, it’s your job to create a culture of psychological safety and to champion positive conversations around mental health.

Taking a compassionate and supportive approach to managing an employee’s poor mental health is a great start. But it can often be difficult to know how to provide practical support to an unwell employee, especially if they are away from the workplace for an extended period.

Get support from the professionals

The key thing to remember here is that you are not a medical professional. Neither am I. Our responsibility is to manage the employee’s ill health in line with company procedures or statutory obligations if you don’t have a policy (hint: this is unwise!)

And remember that the ultimate goal in managing someone who is absent with poor mental health is to support them back to work, even if that means making adjustments to enable them to do so.

We can get advice on what those adjustments might look like from an Occupational Health advisor. They will meet with the employee and provide their medical opinion on the individual situation and any recommended actions.

They might suggest changes to ease the employee’s return to work and any adjustments that can be made to reduce the likelihood of work impacting a future deterioration in the employee’s mental health.

Create a positive culture around mental health

Making it easy to talk about mental health at work is a great way to provide support before things escalate. Creating a positive culture around mental health means that your people are more likely to approach you for support before they need to take time off.

Here are ten practical top tips on how you can create a positive culture around mental health.

1. Foster an open and inclusive work environment: Create a culture that values mental health and encourages employees to openly discuss their challenges without fear of stigma or judgment. You might do this by introducing ‘duvet days’, fundraising and/or supporting mental health charities, and offering social events and other opportunities for your employees to get to know each other beyond the day job.
2. Educate yourself and your staff: Consider offering the opportunity for some of your team to train as Mental Health First Aiders, and offer more generic awareness education to the whole team. You could even bring supportive activities into the workplace, like mindfulness coaching, yoga, and meditation.
3. Introduce a mental health statement: Develop and communicate a clear statement that outlines your business’s commitment to supporting employee mental health. Ensure employees are aware of their rights, available resources, and procedures for requesting time off.
4. Encourage open communication: Encourage employees to talk to you about any mental health concerns or challenges they may be experiencing with an ‘open door’ mindset. Make it clear on a regular basis and in all types of situations, e.g., 121s, team meetings and in your general management style, that there is no topic that is ‘off the table’ and your people can come to you for support confidentially.
5. Provide supportive resources: Consider introducing cost-effective benefits that support positive mental health, such as providing access to employee assistance programs (EAPs), healthcare cash plans and mental health resources, such as counselling services or helplines.
6. Be flexible and accommodating: Consider how flexible working arrangements, such as flexible hours or remote work options, might work for your business and if you’re not sure that they will work, trial them to find out and get feedback. Be flexible enough that you can adjust workloads or temporarily reassign tasks to support individual employees where necessary.
7. Respect confidentiality and privacy: Maintain confidentiality when employees disclose their mental health needs to you. Ensure that only those who need to know are informed, and follow privacy laws and regulations to protect their sensitive information.
8. Lead by example: As a leader, prioritize your own mental health and wellbeing, and encourage your people to do the same. Demonstrating self-care practices and setting boundaries can help to create a positive work culture by setting an example.
9. Regularly check in with employees: Meet with your employees individually on a regular basis to gauge their wellbeing, address any concerns, and offer support. You could also add a question to any annual engagement survey, which, if anonymous, is more likely to give you genuine feedback on how people feel.
10. Monitor workload and work-life balance: Be mindful of employee workloads and ensure they have a reasonable balance between work and personal life. Encourage breaks, holidays, and time off to prevent burnout and support mental wellbeing.

Mental health is individual

Remember, every individual’s experience with mental health is unique, so it’s important to approach each situation with empathy, flexibility, and a willingness to accommodate specific needs. Working with an HR expert that is passionate about creating a positive culture around mental health will guide your company to do the same.

With positive mental health support getting so much exposure in the workplace, now is the time to be the champion in your business and look out for your people.

Don’t let HR outfox you – talk to Laura at Fox HR today!