Managing Employees with Psychological Disorders: Best Practices for HR Leaders
World Health Organization (WHO) mentions that more than half of the world population is working, and 15% of them live with mental health disorders. It further mentions that 12 billion working days are lost every year due to mental health issues. These employees not being treated and supported effectively can lead to low productivity and absenteeism and affect employee morale and identity. Depression and anxiety alone cost USD 1 trillion each year in lost productivity.
While every individual deserves to work, it's evident that without the proper support of HR leaders, employees cannot succeed at their workplace. This article will discuss how HR leaders can manage employees with psychological disorders and foster a thriving work culture.
Best practices to support mental health at work
As an HR leader, if you want to support your employees with psychological disorders but are unsure how to get started, then here are a few things that you can certainly do.
Make listening a superpower
Supporting employees with mental health issues doesn't necessarily mean you need to arrange wellness sessions or offer them mental health leave. While these perks can benefit them, if you do not have the company budget but still want to help, gift them your time through the power of listening.
Listening helps build an inclusive work culture and gives employees the confidence that someone is genuinely interested in listening to them. While HR managers are not mental health experts and cannot offer clinical help, listening with empathy strengthens workplace bonds and sets the foundation for workplace wellbeing strategy.
Listening to your employees not only opens up a healthy communication channel, but when you gather feedback and act upon it, it imparts psychological benefits as well. Employees feel more attached to their work, which leads to a better retention rate.
Offer mental health resources for employees
As HR leaders, you can look at various employee assistance programs, invest in mental health apps, and partner with wellness companies like Manaha to help employees manage their psychological disorders better. You can also consider investing in a wide range of mental health supports like services for suicide prevention, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety, AI chat support, mental health management apps, crisis support helplines, etc. Anwesha Bhattacharyya, Chief Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Co-founder of Healing Harmony mentions, “ HR leaders can organize stress management workshops or training sessions preceded by a mental health screening, especially during the times of extreme work stress in an organization; for instance, towards the financial year end.”
Promote mental health awareness
Mental health is still a taboo topic, and many people still find it a stigma to talk about mental health. As HR leaders, you must spread mental health awareness. You can collaborate with mental health professionals who can talk about the importance of treating psychological disorders and share tips on how employees can contact their HR managers for help. HR can also run helpful campaigns and initiatives to spread awareness about the importance of mental health, run regular campaigns, and hold sessions with mental health practitioners to normalize mental health and its importance.
Train managers to communicate openly
As a Harvard article mentioned in a survey, they found that 23% of the participating employees were more likely to experience mental health declines when they felt their managers were not good at communicating. Train your managers about the importance of open communication at work and its impact on the employees' mental health. Managers must set expectations to reduce the mental stress of their employees. Managers should also make their employees aware of all the mental health resources available to them and normalize using them because many employees feel shame and stigma in availing of those resources.
Assess the mental wellness of your employees
Anwesha mentions that “HRs can facilitate a mental health screening every six months or a year.” This can help you understand how they are feeling, how your wellbeing programs are doing, and if they are helping.
Conducting anonymous surveys is an excellent way to gather such information. You can ask questions like if they feel their work environment is hostile or supportive, how colleagues treat a coworker with a mental health issue, and the level of stress they feel at the workplace and in their personal lives. Keeping all the responses confidential and maintaining anonymity is crucial as it will help build trust and encourage employees to discuss their psychological issues openly.
FAQs
1. What are some effective ways for HR leaders to support employees with psychological disorders?
HR leaders can support employees by actively listening to their concerns, providing mental health resources like apps and counseling services, and promoting awareness through educational campaigns. Training managers to communicate openly and normalize discussions about mental health also helps create a supportive workplace.
2. How can HR leaders promote mental health awareness in the workplace?
HR leaders can enhance mental health awareness by partnering with professionals to offer education, running regular campaigns to reduce stigma, and organizing sessions with mental health experts. These efforts encourage open conversations and help employees feel more comfortable seeking help.
