How Can You Support an Employee Experiencing a Mental Health Problem

How Can You Support an Employee Experiencing a Mental Health Problem When it comes to having to support one of your staff with a mental health problem there are certain dos and donts. What you might think is the right approach may cause more harm to your employee even if you mean well. Its one of the most sensitive areas to deal with in the workplace but instead of simply ignoring your employee there are ways you can support them, and our panelists are on hand to tell you how to do it. Nick Patel The worst thing an employer can do is to ignore the problem.   This results in employees not being open about it at work, including discussing how their work may be impacting their illness.   If employers do not treat mental health seriously, employees will be less likely to seek treatment, which will impact their productivity and personal lives. Nick Patel, CEO of Wellable. Renae Shaw Without a doubt, the worst thing an employer could do is identify an issue and ignore the problem completely. Even if there is no protocol in place, simply taking the time to ask if someone is okay can offer a platform for them to speak up and ask for help. Stigma and misinterpretation towards mental health problems has been long in existence and so advice such as ‘cheer up’ or ‘get over it’ have been widely used when trying to help someone with depression. It is important as an employer to take the time to fully understand mental health issues to realise advice such as this is just as effective as telling someone with a broken leg to ‘get better’. Finally, it is fundamental to not punish a person before establishing if there has been any external factors which could be causing someone to be disengaged at work. Renae Shaw, Head of HR at Search Laboratory. Lee Keyes Reducing or eliminating barriers to healthcare and other benefits, reducing or eliminating stigma which may be built into policies (intentional or otherwise), ensuring that disclosures by or about the employee are under the control of employees. Also working to advocate for good mental health coverage in insurance, at the organizational, policy, and legislative levels. The worst thing an employer can do is creating or worsening barriers, creating stigma, forcing unnecessary disclosures by or about the employee. Dr. Lee Keyes, is a Psychologist and Emeritus Director at the University of Alabama. Emma Mamo What will be of help to someone is very individual, so it’s important to have a conversation with your employee so they can tell you what will help. Our Wellness Action Plans are a practical tool to use with an individual to help them identify the best support for themselves. Steps to supporting someone are generally quite small and focus on simple adjustments to someone’s job role or extra support from their manager. While voluntary and agreed adjustments are supportive, it’s important that people are not treated differently or asked to do things that others are not required to. Being micro-managed or made to account for all of your time can be counter-productive and discriminatory. Emma Mamo, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at Mind. Brendan Street The worst thing to do would be to encourage a culture where mental health and mental illness are talked about in a judgmental, non-respectful way. The best way to ensure a manager supports the mental health of a staff member is to 1.                 Set the right tone 2.                 Keep it simple 3.                 Notice and then REALLY listen 4.                 Understand reasonable adjustments 5.                 Always Follow up Brendan Street, Professional Head of Emotional Wellbeing at Nuffield Health. Shona Davies Ignore it and hope it goes away/doesnt affect their business. 1 in 4 people will suffer mental ill health at some point in their lives and the numbers are increasing. Employers must recognise this as a fact of life and put in place policies and procedures to help prevent as well manage mental ill health at work. . Shona Davies, Founder of Shona Davies Consulting. Chieu Cao The worst thing an employer can do is not leading by example. Managers should support sensible working hours, encourage employees to take lunch breaks and annual leave, and to recuperate after busy periods, otherwise how can we ever expect our employees to follow?                       Chieu Cao, Co-Founder of Perkbox. Lucy Faulks The worst thing is to ignore it and not address it in the belief that there is no issue. Like physical health, mental health is a sliding scale and even if there is no-one who is visibly experiencing mental ill health currently, we know that as 1 in 4 of the population experience mental ill health at some point in their lives, the chances are there will be employees going through this currently or who will do in the future. Lucy Faulks, Co-founder of Elevate. Paula Whelan It’s imperative for managers to be proactive when it comes to managing and supporting staff with mental health issues. Getting to know your staff will help you recognise when something is not quite right, and you can then offer support at the earliest opportunity. Start where the person is at, listen, and ask them what they need. Explore what, if any, reasonable adjustments would help so that as few barriers as possible remain in the way of their recovery (although don’t offer what is not possible according to company policy. ) Its a good idea to log what you agree together and to regularly review any adjustments and amend as appropriate. Paula Whelan, Head of Diversity Inclusion at Right Track Learning. Nicole Thurman The worst thing would be adding to the stigma against mental health, which includes not acknowledging it or playing it down as unimportant. Mental health is a real issue and its becoming increasingly bigger â€" and for some reason people don’t want to accept that. When I last looked, the three drugs being prescribed most from our onsite health care clinic were for anxiety and depression. Consider the skyrocketing suicide rates in the United States, especially among young people. We have a big, big problem on our hands and employers can make the problem worse or actually try to help solve some of these problems. We are trying to do the latter. Nicole Thurman, Vice President, Talent Management at CHG Healthcare.

What to Do If You Have a Soul Sucking Job

What to Do If You Have a Soul Sucking Job No one needs to convince you, your job sucks.   You see the mindless drones around you and realize youre done being like them.   You start to wonder how much longer you can procrastinate making a career move. Every day you stick around youre popping more blood vessels in your brain from having to deal with a psychopathic boss and vendetta driven clients. But you know its not easy to just quit. Maybe you have kids and a family to support and leaving a steady income isnt the most comfortable thing you could do. Maybe you have no idea whats next in your life.   Where you will work, what you will do, who will support you? But you do know one thing. Youre tired of working in a soul sucking hellhole and are ready to change that. As complicated as this seems, you really have only two choices. Either you A.   Figure out a way to deal with your job and turn it around. Or you B.   Leave the daily grind that did nothing but stress, drain, and depress you. To quit or not to quit, that is the question. So When Is It Time to Quit? First, you can read my previous post Top 10 Reasons Why You Need to Quit Your Soul Sucking Job. If you find yourself reading along and nodding your head like a major league bobble head doll riding Montezoomas Revenge, then you probably need to quit. Another exercise worth doing is to just simply write out the worst case scenario if you quit.   If your job is THAT bad, then youll see you dont have much to lose. But what else are signs its time to quit. Well, if you are finding that you are becoming a person you dont want to be.   Or the job is a never ending source of pain, stress, obsession, fretting, or worry.   Or if the only speck of hope for staying is to, wait and see if it gets better. Dont stay.   Like the best friend by your side that comforts you after a tough breakup, Im here to tell you, YOU CAN DO BETTER. So When Is It Time to Stay? We live in a time where if youre happy in your job others will call you lucky. And often these lucky folk didnt get there on their first try.   They had the joyless jobs just like everyone else, and some of those they stuck with for the following reasons. 1.   Its not the right time. I know, I just said earlier you shouldnt wait, but there are exceptions.   Maybe the next job you REALLY want requires you to have a certain amount of experience your current job is giving you. You want that awesome Video Game Editor position?   Well suck it up and pay your dues writing for your C list video game site until you can prove you have the ability to write reviews worthy of the big guys. 2.   Youre not happy with management. Management isnt always a permanent roadblock to your happiness, so be careful not to jump ship too quickly just because of your manager. When I was in college I worked in a bank for about 2 years.   Over those two years I think I saw 4-5 managers come and go.   Whenever there was a manager I didnt particularly see eye to eye with, I just sucked it up and knew more than likely things would change if I just gave it a few more months. And it did.   Instead of complaining about management, I tried to adapt to their style.   I found that when they were happy, I was happy.   While all the other coworkers who refused to adapt either left for other positions or got fired. If it just took a little adaptation in order to ride out the bad times, you may avoid making a jump that isnt necessary. At the same time, if   you work at a small company where the founders are your bosses, then you might be out of luck waiting for a new manager to step in. In a lot of ways life is like a giant Choose Your Own Adventure Book. So with that said do you A) Choose to stick it out and learn how to make the best of your current job (If so read on below.) B) Choose to ditch your job for something better. (If so skip to Okay, Ive Decided to Ditch My JobNow What?) Okay, Ive Decided Its Best to Ride it OutNow What? So youve decided to ride it out.   You feel work is not the most rewarding at the moment, but theres a reason to be hereat least for a little longer.   How can I   make the most of it? 1.   What can I do to make a better work situation for myself? You might be surprised by how much you can change how you feel about a job by just making a few changes yourself. For example, I have a friend who by night is a popular cosplayer/model but by day works at a cubicle just like the rest of us.   On the weekends shes visiting comic, video game, and anime conventions from Vancouver, to Phoenix, to Tokyo.   While Monday through Friday, shes got a regular desk job. Going from nerd celebrity one night to cubicle warrior the next has got to take a toll on you.   So I asked her, how does she cope with such a drastic change in environments. This is what she sent me. Sure, Jessica would like to be out at comic and anime conventions 40 hours a week, but shes realistic and knows that wont pay the bills.   So why not make the best of the situation?   Add some personality. Be yourself. 2.   What made you happy before work took a dive for the worst? Chances are if youre willing to stick it out at your job, something had to have been working at some point. What were the things that made you happy to work there?   What were the moments that made you proud? Did you feel warm and fuzzy inside when you were recognized for bringing in the most leads that month?   Did you feel happy when you went to lunch with your buddies instead of staying in the office? Write these things down.   Then answer yourself, How can I make these things happen more often? Every high moment can really add up while you stick it out. 3.   What are the underlying issues? Maybe your job is soul sucking, but if you could overcome a few hurdles it could actually be quite rewarding. It could be that youre weak in a few skill sets like managing your time, sales, organization, or presentations. These days there are a number of resources you can check out to get help with what ever business skills you are lacking. Get some books, find online courses on Udemy, or just Google it.   Its truly an age of information we live in. Okay, Ive Decided to Ditch My JobNow What? So youve decided to move on to greener pastures.   How should I prepare? Its like you are embarking on a grand camping trip and just want to make sure you dont forget anything before you set out.   Because the last thing you want to do is get yourself out in the woods and realize you forgot your flashlight. So heres your checklist for leaving a job. 1.   Prepare enough notice for your current employer to make the transition smooth for them too. Most people think two weeks notice is standard practice for leaving a job, but thats not always the case. Sometimes its more.   What if you are the only one in the company that knows how to run their complicated systems.   If you leave without giving them documentation for the next guy, your boss isnt likely to leave a glowing recommendation when you decide to look for your next job. Your new employer will likely understand this as well.   Who knows, maybe theyve been caught in that situation themselves.   If they are good people they wont force you to do that to your current employer either. 2.   Prepare for your own departure. Chances are youve built up some impressive resume items working for your company, and you might like to share some of those things on your own portfolio to land the next gig. Take note of any metrics youve accomplished for the company whether it was sales, customer satisfaction, or whatever metrics were used to keep you accountable. If you worked on some impressive projects, you might want to have a copy of your project plan on hand. Warning: be sure you dont violate any of your companies policies by doing so.   Making copies of confidential, client, or other works can end up getting you fired.   If you dont know the company policies, be sure to get clarification from the HR department. 3.   Write a formal resignation letter. Dont be one of those dopes who quits with a bang to get attention from their friends or the internet. Even though work did some things to wrong you, they also were the same people who kept a roof over your head.   So the least you can do is thank them for the job experience and investments they placed in you. Again, remember that when you look for your next job, its these guys who youll want as your references. 4.   Avoid gossiping to coworkers before you let your boss know. I know how you feel.   You are excited to finally get out of your hellhole of a job and you want to share it with your buddy in the cubicle next to you. But you never know how far word might spread. Suddenly Susan in marketing knows all about your plans and happens to be meeting with your boss at Applebees tonight.   Guess whats going to come up while theyre chowing on buffalo wings? Weve all been the last to know about something we feel we should have been the first to know.   Its a bummer.   And no matter how much you hate your boss, the last feeling you want to leave is that you were an office gossip. 5.   Finish strong. There are two types of impressions you have on someone.   A first and a last. You probably aced your first impression by securing your job.   You should end the same way. Let your boss know you want things to work out for them, that youll wrap up loose ends, finish projects, and ultimately leave them in a better position than when you started. Whats Your Biggest Challenge When It Comes to Dealing With or Leaving a Soul Sucking Job? The last thing I want to do is assume you all have the same situation when it comes to work and that there is one silver bullet for each of you. Thats preposterous. So let me know whats challenging you in the comments and Ill be happy to help. image courtesy of Jessica Watkins DeWinter