As mental health and wellbeing is now getting much more awareness here we look at how employers and companies can helps support staff.
Here we have put together a practical guide on how to help employees with mental health issues.
Table of contents
1. Coach your team
Helping employees with mental health issues begins with you. Hold a meeting on how to better take care of yourself, minimise workplace stress and avert mental exhaustion. Hiring a medical professional to share the insights with your team and address all the questions that your staff may have.
2. Support appropriate self-care
Bring the topic of self-care into the spotlight for your staff so that your staff cast an emphasis on their mental health issues and set a good example so that your staff. Offering paid leave for “mental health” days or include team breaks in your company’s schedule in order for your staff to have a mental retreat.
Offer all of your staff a set time throughout your company so you and your employees can take a formal walk together whenever the weather is nice. This will boost the physical and mental health for everybody by not checking your unread emails and WhatsApp messages.
3. Encourage clear communication
When everybody is not working in the same office room, clear and consistent communication becomes very important. Convey the message of your existing corporate policies as well as mental health treatment choices to in the clearest and most compassionate way possible. If your staff have questions, inform them to turn to an expert you invited for solutions.
What to say to an employee with mental health issues
You need to be clear and supportive towards all your employees actually and especially those with mental health issues. Examples of sentences that you can say are:
Instead of saying “This report is full of errors,” you might say, “We need this report to be error-free. What do you need to make that happen?”
Instead of saying, “Do not be late for meetings,” you might say, “I need you to be at meetings at least one minute before they start. How can I help you to do that?”
Instead of saying “You are being disrespectful to the team when you’re late for meetings,” you could say, “When you are not present at the beginning of the meeting we miss out on your contribution to the issues or we need to take more time to cover the issue again.”
4. Hold check-in meetings on a constant basis
Frankly speaking, checking in with your staff is important on a regular basis as mental health can change fast. Clinical research indicates that a meeting for all employees advises that each department manager schedule one-on-one meetings with their team members. The manager can ask any follow-up questions the staff member might have and go through the company’s mental health benefits more deeply. Include mental health as a regular section of your check-ins can help mitigate disgrace related to the topic.
5. Carry out mental health policies and resources at work
You can provide your employees with many mental health support resources including an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), a list of in-network therapist, phychiatrists and mental health clinicists.
An outside provider can offer these services that link staff with the proper relevant materials. With these programs, firms are able to professionally manage employees with mental health issues and enable confidentiality at the same at work.