What we do/Mental Health and Wellbeing
Employers have a legal duty of care to their employees and are required to take reasonable steps to ensure their health and safety and wellbeing. However, looking after, motivating and retaining a workforce that is expected to do more, often with less and with no job security is a huge challenge during the current economic climate. Increasingly, organisations are finding that the number of employees struggling with anxiety, depression, stress and other mental health problems is on the rise. In fact, since one in four of us is likely to have experienced some sort of mental health issue within the previous twelve months, no manager can safely say that this isn’t, or won’t be, an issue for their organisation. Few managers have been trained to manage wellbeing though and many feel out of their depth when it comes to mental health issues. The sorts of questions that can go through their minds include the following:
- How do I make sure my workplace isn’t stressful given that there are fewer of us doing the same amount of work now?
- What will happen if I don’t notice someone is psychologically unwell?
- If I try to help, might I make things worse?
- How far does my duty of care extend? I’m not a counsellor.
- What if the problem is caused by things that are happening at home? Do I have to do anything?
- Should I only recruit resilient people? Can resilience be taught?
Unfortunately, because many managers are not sure what to do when mental health issues present at work, they do nothing. This will usually result in a problem becoming more complex and more serious. We can help. We provide information, guidance and support in the form of coaching, training and/or consultancy, on organisational health and wellbeing issues, including:
- mental health management strategies for employees both in, and absent from, the workplace
- help with reasonable adjustments
- mental health mediation
- guidance and support for managers
- wellbeing strategies & audits (including individual stress risk assessments)
We use our occupational psychology techniques and expertise and
combine this with a thorough understanding of your business and its
goals to provide tailored talent management programmes.
The bottom line benefits of investing in employee wellbeing are clear: organisations which do so have healthier staff who take fewer sick days, have fewer accidents, make fewer tribunal claims, and are more engaged and productive.
As Chartered and Health and Care Professions Council registered Occupational Psychologists, we offer confidential, expert support to all levels of staff. We work with managers to enable them to address difficulties quickly and confidently. We work with individual employees offering information, support and signposting, thereby empowering them to resolve issues that are preventing them from making their full contribution.
We help organisations build and manage cultures where all staff feel able to be open about the mental health challenges they face; where managers are unafraid to address difficult issues, and where staff are able to access quickly the support they need.