How to Create Mentally Healthier Work Environments
In a recent DMEC podcast, Paula Allen, global leader and senior vice president of research and client insights for TELUS Health, offers guidance and practical tips to help employers support mentally and physically healthy work environments. She shares additional context in this Q&A with DMEC.
DMEC: During the 2023 DMEC Annual Conference, you said, “Disability management professionals really need to think about mental health as a first-step inquiry.” What does that look like in practice? Are there strategies you’d recommend to help absence and disability managers intervene in appropriate ways?
Paula Allen during the 2023 DMEC Annual Conference.
Allen: I think this is essential. The first contact with a disability professional can shape the employee’s response to the entire process and the outcomes. There are levels in terms of how this can be done:
- Show empathy. Any health issue can be difficult emotionally, so acknowledging this and asking how the person is doing shows caring and empathy whatever may or may not be going on.
- Keep checking in. The biggest barrier to returning to work at the earliest opportunity is fear. People are concerned about failing and in many cases just need to feel there is an understanding that things might be rocky at the start, but there is support to problem-solve as needed.
- Pay attention to the employee’s behavior. If someone shows significant distress or indicates a coexisting mental health condition, do not ignore it, even if that is not the stated reason for the leave. Points one or two might help create an opportunity for managers to witness this. If there is a concern, the absence and disability specialist needs to go a bit further, which might entail using a structured set of questions and a referral or an immediate referral to someone who can assess the situation and ensure all of the needed supports are in place. It is more effective to acknowledge mental health as a possible factor in recovery and return to work as early in the claim as possible versus later. When it comes up later, valuable time has been lost, undue conflict is more likely, and the resolution is more complex.
DMEC: What role do managers and supervisors play in designing mentally healthy workspaces, and what should they recognize as their responsibilities when it comes to addressing employee mental health?
Allen: Managers have two main roles in a mentally healthy workplace. First, understand how to address a situation where there is a change in an employee’s behavior that suggests distress. This requires training. The conversation is not complicated, but the emotions that managers may feel if they are not confident in what they are doing are very complicated. The main thing is that managers need to show that they care about the employee’s well-being and share very specific and observable reasons why they are concerned. Ignoring the issue can isolate someone, but showing concern is helpful and opens the door to giving the employee information about an employee assistance program (EAP), which can be used as the next step. Managers would not ignore someone in physical pain nor try to fix the situation if they are not health professionals. We should show the same compassion for mental health without playing the role of a mental health professional.
Second, support a culture where people can thrive. Five characteristics stand out in such cultures:
- Psychological safety: not feeling a fear of reprisal for speaking up or acting in good faith; not being bullied or harassed; and not experiencing disrespectful behaviors.
- Sense of control: having reasonable flexibility in how work is done and having input into the systems that influence employees.
- Recognition: ensuring that employees know they matter. Everyone needs to feel valued. This need goes up during times of stress. Showing employees and teams that you see them as people and value what they do as well as the outcomes can help people feel grounded. On the other hand, not knowing where they stand or consistently getting only negative feedback without balance or context will drain people and create a sense of apathy or anger.
- Support: providing employees with tangible and valuable support such as resources, guidance, and assistance when needed at work, and services and benefits when mental health issues arise. Knowing there is a safety net and actually having one when it is needed are strong buffers to anxiety.
- Belonging: having a sense of inclusion and belonging. This is absolutely essential to well-being. The absence of inclusion and belonging will almost always have very negative consequences.
DMEC: You mentioned that working from home can be stressful for employees, and that managers and supervisors can have a positive influence by ensuring people feel recognized and appreciated. Would you share more details about what managers and supervisors can do here?
Allen: Most of the points noted above may be more difficult to experience when people are not physically together. Even something like psychological safety may more easily be felt when people see others on an ongoing basis. That said, being in-person is not necessary. It just means that when employees are remote, the need to connect, be overt in recognition, appreciate development instead of alluding to reprisals and be clear that support is available need to be more intentional and frequent. Managers need to be aware of this and build these points into their individual contact with employees.
DMEC: You shared information during the 2023 DMEC Annual Conference presentation about lower stress tolerance among employees, which affects the brain, and the need for different skills. How can employers support people in high-stress jobs, like call centers?
Allen: The first thing is that not all stress is bad. The stress of a reasonable challenge can be motivating and bring a positive response and sense of satisfaction when the challenge is conquered. Unrelenting stress with high stakes, stress related to things out of your control, and the stress of disrespect are not helpful. These types of stressors are, unfortunately, unavoidable in some jobs. When this is the case, employers need to think about how the stress can be mitigated and how people can be supported with training on how to view and manage the situations as well as recognition of their efforts. High stress in dealing with a generally angry public, for example, cannot be met with a generally angry workplace. There needs to be preparation, balance, and respite.
DMEC: How does an employer’s investment in employee mental health influence an employee’s return to work after an absence?
Allen: One of the main factors when there is a delayed return is fear. Being off work for a health issue puts people in a vulnerable place. There is almost always fear of failure, fear of not being wanted back and fear of the consequences if things do not immediately go well. When there is positive contact between the employee and manager during the absence, this fear is reduced because the extent of separation from work is reduced. There is also the opportunity to talk about what is happening and how challenges can be handled, which reduces the fear of the unknown.
DMEC: You mentioned care navigation and the opportunity for employers to optimize the systems they have. I’m assuming you mean employee assistance programs and other benefits. Can you share more about how employers can optimize the systems they have in place?
Allen: When people are in distress, it is generally the time when they are least able to navigate through the range of options for support that might be available to them. That is why care navigation is so valuable. It helps people connect the dots of support, EAP, health benefits, and workplace supports. This makes it more likely that things will be resolved well and, very importantly, takes undue burden off people when they are in need.
Want More Information on Mental Health?
Join us for the 2024 DMEC Virtual Mental Health Conference on January 23 and January 25, 2024. This dynamic, two-day event will provide practical building blocks and solutions for designing successful mental health programs and will include six sessions focused on building, implementing, communicating, and auditing mental health programs for absence management professionals.