How Managers Can Support Employees’ Mental Health at Work
Rachel Clements, director of psychological services at the Sydney-based Centre for Corporate Health, discusses how leaders can respond to mental health issues at work.
New codes of practice by Safe Work Australia put more responsibility onto leaders to identify psychosocial risks their teams may be exposed to before something happens. This proactive approach is very different to the more reactive legislation we’ve had since 2011, which is about the four Rs: recognising someone has a mental health issue, responding, knowing your referral options and reconnecting – keeping the person on your radar.
If an employee says, “I’m overwhelmed by my workload,” they’re telling you, potentially, a psychosocial risk. You must listen. Is this an issue for one person or the whole team? Is it temporary or business-as-usual? Check-ins can be informal; fortnightly is good. Ask about the person – their weekend, what they’re doing to switch off – before checking on task progress. If there are issues at home, it’s still your responsibility as a leader to manage and support that person at work. But you should never be managing an employee with mental health issues on your own: an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) often has a Manager Support Program where you can call a consultant psychologist for confidential advice. The R U OK? website has free resources for educating yourself about early warning signs.
One-on-ones have a profound impact. Research shows the biggest predictor of employee wellbeing in the workplace is supportive leadership, outweighing career progression, autonomy and renumeration. People look forward to spending time with their immediate leader. Remote employees should be connecting with someone in the organisation at least weekly. These should always be cameras-on and you really can’t cancel them. The impact of peer-to-peer support – where people can talk in small, safe groups – is powerful. With roles where it’s not possible to eliminate exposure to traumatic elements, it’s not enough to rely on your people linking to a great EAP because research tells us that a symptom of vicarious trauma is to avoid talking about it.
Bullying and harassment are the number-one reasons why people put in claims for psychological injury. Your organisation might not be able to eliminate the risk but you can put in measures and controls to reduce the impact. You can train leaders on how to look out for disrespectful behaviour and set the tone of zero tolerance. You could train teams in how to call out inappropriate behaviour, to be on the lookout for someone who might be on the receiving end and what to do if it’s a leader or client who’s behaving badly.
