The Employer’s Duty of Care Mental Health & How It Impacts on Your Business – A Growing Issue Mr Mark Braithwaite Managing Director Gipping Occupational Health & Wellbeing

gipping occupational health and wellbeing protect promote prevent Mental Health in the Workplace; The Employer’s Duty of Care

The employer’s Duty of Care Take all reasonably practicable steps to protect workers’ Health, Safety and Wellbeing Employees need to do their bit too protect promote prevent

Some relevant legislation Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 The Equality Act 2010 duty to make reasonable adjustments Increase the emphasis on Health protect promote prevent

You don’t need legislation to tell you…. protect promote prevent When people are in good health, they enjoy what they do, have financial stability, feel supported, valued and recognised They are more motivated, engaged, productive And more able to deal with the challenges they face at work and outside of work

Culture and communication Create a culture of trust and understanding where people feel able to talk about mental health, enabling prevention and early intervention in the same way as they will tell you about physical ill health No stigma No negative consequences Good relationships with colleagues and management Respect and confidentiality Make it easy for people to succeed in their job External facilitation where appropriate e.g. HR OH EAP protect promote prevent

Workplace factors Demands workload, work patterns and the work environment Control how much say the person has in the way they do their work Support encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues Relationships this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behavior such as bullying and harassment Role whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles Change how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation

Training Awareness training for all Mental Health First Aid Teamwork and mentoring Interpersonal skills:- listening and empathy Teach people how to take care of themselves protect promote prevent

Building line management capabilities and a preventative strategy Improve understanding of Mental Health & related issues such as stress Develop communication skills to reduce risk of misunderstanding & conflict Enabling managers to match workload to available capacity Enable line managers to initiate sensitive conversations Knowing how to handle difficult situations Knowing when & how to refer to specialist support such as Occupational Health protect promote prevent

When people are off sick Keep in touch with them People with physical illness might develop psychological ill health too Agree a realistic return to work plan with workplace adjustments where necessary Draw on multi-disciplinary support e.g. Occupational Health and Counselling

Useful references Promoting positive mental health at work Mind How to be mentally healthy at work Manager’s desk guide for workplace mental wellbeing Mhfaengland.org Mental Health First Aid protect promote prevent

It provides stability & financial support It can provide a positive distraction from problems protect promote prevent

Mental Health & How It Impacts on Your Business – A Growing Issue Thank you Any questions gipping occupational health and wellbeing