Are your employees SAD?
How can your organisation help employees with mental health problems
24th July 2015 is Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD) Awareness Day. SAD is a depressive illness caused by shortened daylight hours and a lack of sunlight. For about 20% of the UK population, mildly debilitating symptoms of SAD cause discomfort, but not serious suffering. For about 2%, SAD is a seriously disabling illness which prevents normal function without appropriate treatment.
SAD is just one of many mental health problems affecting employees today.
Mental Health
In 2011 mental health became the biggest single cause of staff absence in the UK, the most common conditions being anxiety and depression. An analysis of more than 22,250 calls to Canada Life Group’s EAP since 2010 revealed the huge increase in depression-related calls in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. Calls about the condition were up by a massive 63 per cent from 2013.
Five signs that someone may have a mental health issue
- Fatigue. We all have tired days but if somebody is coming to work looking consistently over tired it may be worth a conversation, especially if this is affecting their productivity and attention to detail.
- Short temper. Not being able to control you temper is a red flag where stress is concerned. Any sudden out bursts or losing control with inanimate objects are signs someone is beginning to crack and this should be addressed urgently.
- Displays of emotion. Some people are naturally more emotional than others and will freely display their emotion. These people may not be of immediate concern, but if you have an employee who typically doesn’t show a wide range of emotion suddenly often becoming angry or upset, they could be struggling.
- A change in typical behaviours. Noticeable changes in behaviour are a sign something may not be right. Perhaps you have typically sociable employee who is withdrawing or a colleague who usually eats well skipping lunch and working through.
- Change in appearance. Tread carefully with this one! When people are stressed, they are typically dealing with a number of problems inside and outside of work and sometimes this means paying less attention to themselves, showing in their general appearance. Knowing your staff and how they usually present themselves is important here.
Promoting Good Physical and Mental Health
There’s a strong business case for organisations to promote good physical and good mental health for all staff. As 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health illness at some point in their lives, it can affect anyone at any time – from the most experienced senior manager to the most junior members of staff and providing timely and appropriate support can make the difference between a valued employee successfully returning to work or losing a skilled member of staff. Actively promoting staff wellbeing leads to greater staff productivity, morale and retention, and reduced sickness absence.
Legal Obligations
There are also legal obligations for employers with regard to mental health. The main legislation covering discrimination in employment is the 2010 Equalities Act. This piece of legislation makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against a person because of a protected characteristic which includes people with a disability. The act says that a person is disabled if they have a mental or physical impairment that has a substantial long term adverse effect on their day to day activities.
Communication
Four in 10 employees have suffered from stress, anxiety or depression and not told their employer, according to research by insurance and pensions provider Friends Life and Business in the Community. The survey of 2,000 British adults also suggests one-half of employees are reluctant to talk about mental health problems because they feel it may damage their career prospects. Similarly, research carried out by the Priory Wellbeing Centre in the City of London found that 71% of people would worry about telling their employer they had a mental health condition, for fear of getting a negative response.
So what can employers do to minimise the impact that mental health problems have on employees and their businesses?
Raise awareness and create an open culture to discuss mental health
Any other initiative will be ineffective if employees don’t feel able to speak about their condition. One way to raise awareness is to make use of the various awareness days such as SAD Awareness Day (24th July) and World Mental Health Day (10th October) and get people talking about mental health.
Challenge negative assumptions about mental health problems
The ability to recover from them helps everyone and can mean that staff are more likely to seek help earlier and recover more quickly.
Scotland’s anti-stigma campaign, ‘see me’, has a range of free resources, including posters and leaflets, that can be displayed in the workplace to stimulate discussion and help improve attitudes.
→ To find out more, visit the See Me Scotland website (external site)
Line managers are key to supporting and promoting the mental health and wellbeing of employees
Over a number of years, Healthy Working Lives – in partnership with employers, mental health service users and expert advisers – has developed a training package specifically for line managers. The course teaches managers how to develop mentally healthy workplaces, including tackling stigma and discrimination, managing personal stress, supportive management practices and the legal requirements under The Equality Act (2010).
→ Find out more about Mentally Healthy Workplace training
Identify a Director/senior employee as the mental health champion for the organisation
Getting someone on side who has influence higher up in the business is also a great way to get these issues raised. Enlist them as your mental health champion and with a quarter of people experiencing a mental health issue at some point each year, there’s a good chance they themselves would have had a problem or at least are close with someone who has.
You could also consider any number of the following measures (if you are not already doing so) to support and protect employee wellbeing:
- Flexible working options
- Encouraging active employee participation where possible in decision making in plans that affect them
- Introducing stress risk management measures
- Providing access to employee assistance programmes and occupational health
- Having regular meetings with managers
- Introducing performance management processes
- Valuing staff contribution and effort
- Conducting return to work interviews
- Promoting work-life balance and management of workloads
- Recognising that health is determined by a number of factors including social conditions, lifestyle, work environment, financial status, family circumstances, support with work
- Encouraging respectful and non-derogatory behaviours and have conflict resolution practices in place
How can your organisation help employees with mental health problems
24th July 2015 is Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD) Awareness Day. SAD is a depressive illness caused by shortened daylight hours and a lack of sunlight. For about 20% of the UK population, mildly debilitating symptoms of SAD cause discomfort, but not serious suffering. For about 2%, SAD is a seriously disabling illness which prevents normal function without appropriate treatment.
SAD is just one of many mental health problems affecting employees today.
Mental Health
In 2011 mental health became the biggest single cause of staff absence in the UK, the most common conditions being anxiety and depression. An analysis of more than 22,250 calls to Canada Life Group’s EAP since 2010 revealed the huge increase in depression-related calls in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. Calls about the condition were up by a massive 63 per cent from 2013.
Five signs that someone may have a mental health issue
- Fatigue. We all have tired days but if somebody is coming to work looking consistently over tired it may be worth a conversation, especially if this is affecting their productivity and attention to detail.
- Short temper. Not being able to control you temper is a red flag where stress is concerned. Any sudden out bursts or losing control with inanimate objects are signs someone is beginning to crack and this should be addressed urgently.
- Displays of emotion. Some people are naturally more emotional than others and will freely display their emotion. These people may not be of immediate concern, but if you have an employee who typically doesn’t show a wide range of emotion suddenly often becoming angry or upset, they could be struggling.
- A change in typical behaviours. Noticeable changes in behaviour are a sign something may not be right. Perhaps you have typically sociable employee who is withdrawing or a colleague who usually eats well skipping lunch and working through.
- Change in appearance. Tread carefully with this one! When people are stressed, they are typically dealing with a number of problems inside and outside of work and sometimes this means paying less attention to themselves, showing in their general appearance. Knowing your staff and how they usually present themselves is important here.
Promoting Good Physical and Mental Health
There’s a strong business case for organisations to promote good physical and good mental health for all staff. As 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health illness at some point in their lives, it can affect anyone at any time – from the most experienced senior manager to the most junior members of staff and providing timely and appropriate support can make the difference between a valued employee successfully returning to work or losing a skilled member of staff. Actively promoting staff wellbeing leads to greater staff productivity, morale and retention, and reduced sickness absence.
Legal Obligations
There are also legal obligations for employers with regard to mental health. The main legislation covering discrimination in employment is the 2010 Equalities Act. This piece of legislation makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against a person because of a protected characteristic which includes people with a disability. The act says that a person is disabled if they have a mental or physical impairment that has a substantial long term adverse effect on their day to day activities.
Communication
Four in 10 employees have suffered from stress, anxiety or depression and not told their employer, according to research by insurance and pensions provider Friends Life and Business in the Community. The survey of 2,000 British adults also suggests one-half of employees are reluctant to talk about mental health problems because they feel it may damage their career prospects. Similarly, research carried out by the Priory Wellbeing Centre in the City of London found that 71% of people would worry about telling their employer they had a mental health condition, for fear of getting a negative response.
So what can employers do to minimise the impact that mental health problems have on employees and their businesses?
Raise awareness and create an open culture to discuss mental health
Any other initiative will be ineffective if employees don’t feel able to speak about their condition. One way to raise awareness is to make use of the various awareness days such as SAD Awareness Day (24th July) and World Mental Health Day (10th October) and get people talking about mental health.
Challenge negative assumptions about mental health problems
The ability to recover from them helps everyone and can mean that staff are more likely to seek help earlier and recover more quickly.
Scotland’s anti-stigma campaign, ‘see me’, has a range of free resources, including posters and leaflets, that can be displayed in the workplace to stimulate discussion and help improve attitudes.
→ To find out more, visit the See Me Scotland website (external site)
Line managers are key to supporting and promoting the mental health and wellbeing of employees
Over a number of years, Healthy Working Lives – in partnership with employers, mental health service users and expert advisers – has developed a training package specifically for line managers. The course teaches managers how to develop mentally healthy workplaces, including tackling stigma and discrimination, managing personal stress, supportive management practices and the legal requirements under The Equality Act (2010).
→ Find out more about Mentally Healthy Workplace training
Identify a Director/senior employee as the mental health champion for the organisation
Getting someone on side who has influence higher up in the business is also a great way to get these issues raised. Enlist them as your mental health champion and with a quarter of people experiencing a mental health issue at some point each year, there’s a good chance they themselves would have had a problem or at least are close with someone who has.
You could also consider any number of the following measures (if you are not already doing so) to support and protect employee wellbeing:
- Flexible working options
- Encouraging active employee participation where possible in decision making in plans that affect them
- Introducing stress risk management measures
- Providing access to employee assistance programmes and occupational health
- Having regular meetings with managers
- Introducing performance management processes
- Valuing staff contribution and effort
- Conducting return to work interviews
- Promoting work-life balance and management of workloads
- Recognising that health is determined by a number of factors including social conditions, lifestyle, work environment, financial status, family circumstances, support with work
- Encouraging respectful and non-derogatory behaviours and have conflict resolution practices in place
We hope that this newsletter has given you some ideas about how to approach mental health in your own workplace.
If your employees need help and support or you are looking for ways to improve employee wellbeing in your business, please get in touch with us by email at abby.corfield@peoplebusiness.co.uk or by phone on 01932 874 944.
