law


WORKPLACE IN FOCUS


Issues facing


businesses in today’s workplace:


MENTAL HEALTH


BOARDROOM DIVERSITY – page 8


GENDER IDENTITY – page 10


LEADERSHIP: TRAUMA BUSTERS – page 11


Managing mental health – five key considerations


Managing employees with mental health issues is complicated, and poor mental health has significant consequences for businesses including lost productivity and increased staff turnover, write employment law experts Claire Merritt and Tabytha Cunningham


It is also a significant factor in absence days with over half of all the working days lost in the UK due to ill health being connected to mental ill health. These are the key things you should be considering when managing your employees with mental health issues:


1 Be clear on your obligations


Given that many still feel cautious about disclosing mental health issues, some business leaders may feel unclear about how much they can or indeed should, support their staff. Employers are responsible for helping employees manage work-related stress.


The legal obligations are:


• to take reasonable care of employees’ health and safety; and


• to assess the risk of stress-related ill health arising from work activities.


You should therefore be mindful of risk factors and manage these where possible. They are:


• Long hours • Unrealistic expectations • High-pressure environments • Lack of control in your workload • Job insecurity and change • Lone working.


It is also important to note that some mental health issues will be classified as a disability, which means that reasonable adjustments must be made in the workplace. Any adjustments will depend on the individual, but some common changes we see include different hours, a phased return after a long absence, reduced workload, or giving the employee a mentor.


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