Tips For Managing Mental Health And Safety

Protecting the mental health and safety of employees as well as their physical well-being should be a key priority for all employers.

Katie Buckingham, Founder and Director of Altruist Enterprises, highlights the consequences of managers not being able to deal with mental health issues and provides some useful tips to help them with their employees’ well-being.

Watch Altruist Enterprises present on ‘Equipping Managers with Practical Wellbeing Skills’ at the BPF 'Improving Health and Safety in the Plastics Industry' online event instantly for free here.

Why it matters

Managing people can be hard and many managers lack the skills and confidence to address mental well-being. If managers don’t know how to spot the signs of stress and an employee’s mental health deteriorates it can cause severe problems for the business.

Almost half of workers (46%) say they’ve worked in recent months despite not feeling mentally well enough to perform their duties (Deloitte 2022). This will certainly affect theirs and the organisation’s productivity.

Mental ill-health is the most common cause of long term sickness absence (CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work 2022). Managing a team when someone is off and there is no certainty when they will return is difficult. Other team members often have to work harder and/or the quality of their output is affected. Morale often suffers and stress levels are likely to increase.

This is equally true when members of staff leave and there is a gap before someone is recruited to replace them. It is better to prevent that person resigning in the first place. 40% of staff turnover costs are now attributable to mental health problems (Deloitte 2022) so being able to manage employee well-being is important.

How can you tell if an employee has a problem?

Managers should be meeting regularly with individual team members. These 1:1 meetings should include conversations around workload and if they have other issues that might be affecting their well-being.

Any changes to an employee’s usual behaviour can indicate that they might need help. Managers need to look out for some key signs including:

• Missing deadlines or forgetting tasks​
• Becoming accident prone
• Missing or not engaging in meetings
• Complaining about lack of support or workload​
• Overworking 
• Demonstrating irritability, aggression or tearfulness​
• Being withdrawn or louder than usual
• Exhibiting an inability to concentrate, indecisiveness​
• Being tired all the time
• Showing signs of alcohol and/or drug misuse

How do you start the conversation around mental health?

You don’t have to be an expert to START a conversation about stress and mental health.

S mall words help to engage the person without judging e.g. “How are you feeling?” “Do you want to have a chat?” “I’ve noticed that…?”

T ime is very important. Give yourself at least 10 minutes to listen and don’t look rushed.

A void Clichés. Saying ‘Pull yourself together’ won’t help.

R eassure them that your door is always open.  Acknowledge and respect their feelings and experiences

T ake action so that they feel supported. Signpost them to appropriate internal and external support. Internal support includes human resources, Mental Health First Aiders, occupational health, employee assistance programmes. External support includes the NHS and local and national charities such as Mind and CALM. It may be appropriate to put the conversation in writing and send it to the employee to ensure that all the details are correct. However, take care with sensitive and personal information

Altruist has a simple stress bucket template that can help start wellbeing discussions and allows staff to manage their stress on an individual basis.

Sitting down with your team and getting them to think about how they cope with stress raises awareness of mental health issues and helps share valuable lessons on the different coping mechanisms.

What can businesses do to support their managers?

It is almost impossible to manage well-being in isolation. If the organisation doesn’t have a culture of openness and addressing well-being then managers have an upwards battle.

Altruist has created a free online mental health audit tool. Within 2 minutes you will have a score and feedback on how your organisation addresses well-being with regards to culture & leadership, managers and employees.

Organisations that take a strategic approach to employee wellbeing are more likely to report positive achievements. An indepth audit of the current provision followed by writing a comprehensive strategy are both necessary to ensure that goals are achieved. Altruist can help with gathering the necessary data and ensuring that an effective and realistic strategy is devised.

People managers should all have an understanding of mental health, an awareness of how to spot the early signs of an issue and practical tools for supporting their team.  Organisations should provide Manager mental health training which will give Managers the appropriate skills and the confidence.

Staff do not always feel able to talk to their manager and managers may need support from people with more indepth knowledge. Organisations find it beneficial to implement a network of Mental Health First Aiders. Similar to a First Aider who is the go-to person for immediate assistance with physical health or illness, a Mental Health First Aider (MHFAider®) is the first port of call for a colleague experiencing a mental health issue.

It isn’t only Managers and MHFAiders who should have an understanding of mental health issues. Employers can implement basic awareness training for all employees such as ‘lunch and learn’ sessions. Equally organisations can help employees to manage their own stress and well-being through more indepth courses e.g. resilience and stress management training.

Communication is key. Everyone should be regularly reminded why wellbeing matters, what it involves, and what will be different as a result. Having a dedicated hub on the intranet where employees can access relevant wellbeing information takes some of the pressure off Managers.

 

Author: Katie Buckingham (Founder and Director of Altruist Enterprises)

*Please note that this article is not a press release. Do not publish on another website unless given specific permission from the author.