We are frequently asked, “When do I intervene as a manager?”.
Our mangers coaching programme tackles this question. When someone shows signs of mental decline at work, what should you do?
Here are some simplified scenarios from our programme to consider:
Scenario 1a
You are a manager of 30 and for a few weeks, one of your staff has been acting differently at work. They have been withdrawn, looking sad, tired and not acting in their usual manner.
Should you do anything at this point? Are you legally obliged to do anything?
There’s rarely a black and white answer but arguably no legal obligation to do anything unless you are aware that the staff member is under stress caused by work; but how do you know unless you ask? Morally, if you spot something you should ask the question. What’s the question? Something like “Is everything ok? I’ve noticed a change recently; you don’t join in as much as you used to”. It might lead to….
Scenario 1b
The staff member tells you that they are going through a break-up and things are horrible at home, they’re not sleeping or eating, and they’re unable to concentrate at work due to the stress.
Are you legally obliged to do anything now? Again, it’s not entirely black and white. It’s a personal issue therefore outside the realms of workplace health and safety, right? Perhaps not. The individual is distressed, can’t concentrate at work, could this lead to an accident at work, or a drop in productivity? They are stressed at work, the root cause is not work related but work-related stress can, however, be defined at stress made worse by work.
This is where many organisations fail to do the right thing.
They look at the situation from a pure work perspective. Drop in productivity or risk to the organisation = performance conversation or worse, managing someone out of the business. In other words, get rid of the “problem”.
So, what should you do?
Seek advice from your HR partner, you do need to ensure your organisation is protected but don’t stop there. You have an employee who is suffering and with support is highly likely to return to full productivity.
The best course of action is to have a reasonable conversation about the situation, explain that they are supported and ask what help they might like from the organisation. Explain if appropriate, what flexibility there is to accommodate reasonable changes in their workload or hours for example. The specific scenario will dictate what options are reasonable, see our recent article. Telling the staff member to take some time off, for example, might be the worst thing if they find working more helpful. In other words, treat them human to human, like they matter.
Scenario 1c
The staff member receives no support at work, it is their responsibility to look after their mental health, get better and to perform at work. The pressure of being unable to focus while feeling personally unsupported and expected to deliver to tight deadlines is too much. They end up off work with stress for 6 months.
The organisation now has the cost of a staff member being off, the cost of replacing them temporarily or possibly overtime payments to ensure deadlines are still met. Other staff are now under more pressure and stress. The staff member feels stressed due to the lack of support and perhaps has lost all trust in the organisation.
It is undeniable that the employee is under stress at work regardless of where it has originated. The employer may or may not have taken the correct legal approach but it certainly hasn’t benefited the organisation in the long term.
Scenario 2
A staff member has broken their leg playing sport at the weekend. They will be in a cast for 6 weeks and they require some adjustments in order to return to work.
Does this scenario make you feel any different? It’s an easy one, right? Help the employee back to work with reasonable adjustments. But this was a physical injury and nothing to do with work, why is there no question about what to do?
Stigma still exists around mental difficulties. We have no issues supporting physical difficulty, it’s tangible and quantifiable but when it comes to mental difficulty, we are just not trained to deal with it – until now.
Our coaching programmes look at detailed scenarios taken from real life examples and works with managers to devise strategies to support staff. It also looks at the managers own personal resilience and attitude to mental health as self-reflection and self-awareness is key to being able to address the stigma and manage issues with confidence.
