Often employers find themselves in a situation where an employee is suffering due to mental health problems at work.
For some employees, their mental fitness may influence performance at work, which could direct to short-term absences, while for others, their mental wellness may push them to be unfit for work on a long-term basis.
When an employee is absent from the organisation due to mental health, an employer can be left unsure how to address the absence and whether they should reach the employee.
Usually, both employees and employers are under the illusion that employers are not allowed to reach out to an absent employee when the opposite is right.
From an HR standpoint, valid contact with an employee on sick leave is usually promoted.
Addressing the absence sensitively and being conscious that mental health problems at work may be an element in the employee’s manners is key to employers indicating that they have acted politely in addressing any absence.
In this article, keep reading to unlock the tips and tricks that will help you support your employee with mental wellness.
What Can Be Done To Support Employees With Mental Health?
Keeping appropriate contact with the employee by mode of telephone calls and welfare meetings is often suggested.
Coordinating with an employee on the level of communication they prefer can assist employers in getting the balance right and putting actions in place to proactively supervise the situation. Occupational health intake can be priceless to addressing absence, but this situation underscores the significance of following through on the advised actions; it is not enough to just refer to the employee if the advice obtained is not then appropriately implemented.
At last, employers must be aware that mental health may play a role if an employee is evidently acting unreasonably, and allowances should be made for that to indicate that the employer has performed politely at all times.
Extra Tips To Address Employees With Mental Heath Issues In Your Organisation
Long-Term Sickness Absence
A sick employee suffering long-term mental sickness can still be pretty dismissed; however, a fair and reasonable procedure must be followed; if not, an employee may have the right to claim unfair dismissal discrimination.
A suitable procedure would enclose welfare meetings with employees to enforce ways to help a return to the profession, and a professional medical statement should be sought.
Any advised adjustments should be evaluated and put in place if valid to do so.
When it is considered valid to dismiss, it will range from case to case; determining factors that could influence the “absence” is having on corporation operations, the length of time off, when and if the employee may be able to return to employment and if there are any possible proper adjustments.
High Levels Of Short-Term Absence
If an employee is disabled due to mental illness, they could have periods of short-term absences. An employer should seek to work with the employee to try and decrease the number of days of absence; this is again where appropriate adjustments should be viewed.
Examples of such adjustments were covered earlier underperformance; adjustments such as these can hopefully help keep the employee at work more often.
Suppose you have an employee who suffers from mental health issues and requires reasonable adjustments. In that case, it is best to seek advice, as each employee’s needs will differ, and what may be a proper adjustment for one employer may not be suitable for another.
Wrap Up
You’ve now got an idea of how to tackle such employee mental health cases, keeping in mind the impact it can have in the business operation.
But, have you wondered about the impact of missing out on the right calculations of leave by each employee?
Even wrong leave calculations can highly impact your company and reduce the efficiency of other employees in order to complete the tasks.
So, the pro tip here is to get your hands on the right staff holiday/leave planner software like ScheduleLeave to ease your leave tracking efforts.
