Business Communication and Mental Health

If the mind isn’t balanced, what good does communication do? Confusion reigns even with the clearest statements.  Unfortunately, mental health issues present challenges in the workplace due to endemic stigma. People often project unconscious or subconscious biases towards mental health issues.  These biases inevitably lead to severe workplace issues, such as toxic office culture, discrimination, and the declining wellbeing of the staff.

One of the biggest effects of mental health stigma shows up when people choose to keep their challenges to themselves.  Employees fear being thought of as incompetent, weak, or even dangerous.  These biases directed towards themselves stand in the way of seeking help. However, this is approximately as helpful as ignoring a broken arm in many cases.  Everyone will suffer mental health challenges at some point in life, and the repercussions cost less when addressed promptly and appropriately.

So, to that end, we have compiled five steps that company leadership can take to effectively support mental health for everyone in the organization.

1. Educate Your People

Stigma says that only “crazy” people experience mental health issues.  We often have a mental image of someone in a straitjacket screaming about being Napoleon.

The truth is that everyone, absolutely everyone, will experience mental health issues at some point in their lives.  Anxiety, stress, trauma, depression, grief, and burnout hit indiscriminately in anyone who cares about their work and lives a life with attachments to other people.

According to a study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in every five adults suffer from symptoms of mental illness in a given year. Given that it’s not going to be the same adults each year, it only takes five years by that math to get to 100%.

On a statistical basis, any company that has more than five people in it has someone experiencing mental health symptoms at any given time.  Such prevalence means that these symptoms offer the potential to affect everyone connected to the employee in question.  Workforce participation, productivity, team morale, quality control, and customer followup all fall under the impact of mental health problems.

These symptoms are not under the employee’s control.  It’s an illness, not a decision.

Watch for the following subtle signs to identify employees currently experiencing mental health issues in the office.  They might:

1. Miss work more often (increased absenteeism)
2. Show poor decision making skills coupled with lack of organization
3. Experience noticeable gaps in productivity, resulting in poor job performance
4. Suffer from strained interpersonal relationships with team mates

By actively educating your employees on prioritizing mental health at work, and showing that common concerns can be quickly addressed, you cultivate a corporate environment that reduces stigma and fixes problems when new and small instead of entrenched.

2. Foster Good Mental Health Practices

Managers and team members educated on how mental health issues affect the office can offer effective help, adhere to wise protocols, and correct stigmatizing prejudices.

We offer these initiatives to start the conversation:

• Sponsor lunch-and-learn programs to teach reliable facts about mental health.
• Establish an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to provide counseling and mental health services to your staff. Make sure your organization knows about it, how to use it, and the consequences of using it.
• Train supervisors on spotting risk factors and signs of stress, anxiety, fatigue or depression.
• Maintain an explicit open-door policy for anyone in the workplace to share when they’re going through a difficult time at home or are feeling overwhelmed at work without judgment.
• Work with leadership for strategies to help employees balance stressors and embrace a healthy overall lifestyle. This will be individual to the employee
• Publish information on addressing mental health in the workplace in your employee handbook.

3. Treat Mental Health As Part Of Overall Health

Everyone knows that we make choices in regards to our physical health.  We are inundated with messages to go in for free flu shots, eat a healthy diet, quit smoking, get exercise, and so on.  Our mental and physical health is entwined in ways that doctors are very aware of, but can’t always completely explain.  So, mental wellness should be treated no differently than physical wellness.

Emotional wellness also requires proactive management.  When you address mental and emotional health conditions in the workplace like it’s physical wellness, you open the door to constructive solutions. The ability to talk openly about common mental health concerns offers a vital piece to the overall wellness environment.  Sweeping it under the rug is a serious mistake, given how vital it is to everyone.

A few things to consider:

• Most types of mental health problems are caused by challenging but temporary life events, not permanent illness.
• Employers who communicate knowledgeably with their employees about difficult issues automatically create an atmosphere of trust.  Trust in the workplace always improves productivity and morale.
• Businesses that encourage healthy levels of work and leisure and leaders who make employee wellbeing a priority not only massively reduce the risk of employee burnout, but also experience lower turnover rates with fewer sick days reported. New employees are expensive employees.

4. Emphasize stress management, not stigmatization

Any employee who cares about their work is going to stress.  In an individual, stress manifests in any one of a number of ways, so jumping to conclusions about someone else’s mental health in the office is never a good idea.  If a leader is concerned about a team member’s mental or emotional health, starting an honest conversation to discover the facts trumps making assumptions or labeling the behavior.

It is important to be direct, upfront, but with understanding instead of confrontation. Be specific and to the point.

For instance, you could say, “I noticed you yelled at Linette during the meeting and left the room immediately. Is there something causing you stress that you can tell me about?”

Suggest they ask themselves these questions to start the conversation:

• What am I stressed about?
• Is my stress temporary?
• Should I ask for a change in my workload or schedule?
• Where is this emotion coming from?
• Should I seek help, and if so, what kind?

If during the conversation they state that they need additional help for work-related stress, give an open ear to their suggestions about what they need most. Remain supportive and nonjudgmental. Make sure they can access resources to help them, and give them the contact info with your HR professional or EAP. Remember that mental health concerns are to be kept confidential, not spread around the office.

5. Create And Maintain A Healthy Workplace Culture

Employees are any company’s greatest asset. Those people need to know they’re valued and supported. Hands down the best way to accomplish that is to create and maintain a culture where people feel that they matter.

When you have a strong and caring company culture, you foster an atmosphere of compassion, understanding, and mutual trust within your business. That can’t help but reinforce the importance of mental health awareness and acceptance on all levels.

Employees who feel valued as people are more likely to have open, honest conversations and genuinely care about each other, their work and your business.

To nurture a supportive company culture:

• Publish an explicit, detailed open door policy.
• Educate your employees on how their work furthers the business objectives.
• Recognize people for their unique accomplishments in public.
• Never tolerate gossip, including name calling.
• Be trustworthy, keep your word.
• Write and promote a mission statement that supports and values your employees as your number-one asset.
• Communicate and reinforce your corporate culture regularly.
• Realize your words matter; they should be thoughtful, helpful, and true.
• Demonstrate your culture from the top – lead by example and demand that other leaders do the same.

Everyone faces difficult times in life and we can all encounter mental health concerns at any time. Staying proactive to ensure sure your employees have the support they need at work is often a big part of their successful recovery.

When employees request paid time off to handle a mental health concern, make a concerted effort to grant it. People taking earned leave doesn’t require a medical diagnosis or utilization of the days allowed under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for serious health conditions, so don’t arbitrarily require it.

What should happen when the employee is requesting time off due to a chronic or serious diagnosed period of mental health complications? What kind of reasonable accommodations can be implemented to assist the employee to meet the essential function of their job and give what they need?

Mental Health and the Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against disabilities or illness in the workplace. The ADA defines someone as having a disability if their impairment limits a major life activity or if there is a record of impairment.

• Reasonable accommodations, including requests for time off, don’t have to be expensive for a company. Accommodations can be as simple as restructuring the workday, shifting start times, restructuring breaks or providing flexible work arrangements for environmental management. Smaller systemic accommodations often lead to fewer requests for lengthy leaves.

• Employers should also examine additional, optional ways to provide a more peaceful and supportive work environment for workers. Doing so will help all employees across the board, since none of us deal well with distress. Referring individuals to the employee assistance program (EAP) and free or low-cost resources through the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) often makes a big difference in workplace satisfaction and management of mental health symptoms.

What happens when a worker can’t regularly meet the requirements of their job, even when provided reasonable accommodations and an allowable and reasonable amount of leave under the ADA?

Using Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for Mental Health Issues

If a worker seeks an accommodation that includes time away from the office, the complications of FMLA may come into play. How can a supervisor or HR leader know what leave of absence qualifies for FMLA and what doesn’t?

The topic of mental health policies and the law is a complicated one that often requires the advice of a legal or HR consultant. That being said, here are the quick FMLA facts to get started:

• A couple of days away, from time to time, requested in advance, may be a good use for unused flex time, sick leave or even banked vacations days (and handled in the same manner as common illnesses or injury). FMLA doesn’t need to be invoked.
• If the absence is greater than three days and if certain criteria are met, qualified FMLA may offer a viable option.
• Not all companies have to offer FMLA leave. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius aren’t bound by FMLA laws. So, it’s important to check.
• The employee must have worked 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months to qualify for FMLA leave at all.
• FMLA leave is usually unpaid, although certain states may cover time away with partial disability plans or additional private insurance compensation purchased by the employee or as a perk by the company.
• FMLA leave may be taken intermittently, a few days at a time or all at once. Regardless, the total of FMLA leave is no more than 12 weeks off in a one-year time period.

Employees taking FMLA leave typically come back to the same or an equivalent position within the company when the employee returns. Employee who do not return to work at the end of an authorized leave create an opportunity for the employer and employee to engage proactively to see if any reasonable accommodation could return the employee to work.

If an employee’s position with the company is affected by a business decision or event not related to the employee’s leave of absence (e.g., job elimination due to a reduction in force), the employee can only be affected to the same extent as if they were not on leave. Certain “key employees,” as defined under the FMLA, may not be eligible to be restored to the same or an equivalent position after leave if holding the position open would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the operations of the assigned company.

Finally, if you find that your top-tiered talent is consistently requesting more time away across the board due to stressful work obligations, a formal sabbatical program may be a perk to consider offering.

Why Is This Published By A Business Phone Company?

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