Safety net needed in tough times

Many employers are aware of the value of encouraging the physical health of their employees. But often mental health is ignored and this can affect productivity and have far-reaching repercussions.

Flee Coker-Grey, contract and business development analyst for Affinity Services, says the statistics say it all: Research has indicated 46.6 per cent of the New Zealand population is predicted to meet the criteria of a mental disorder at some time of their lives, with 20.7 per cent having had a disorder in the past 12 months.

Coker-Grey says there's one key thing for employers to realise: It's really important to know your staff.

"Be aware of what staff are going through in and out of work. In this recession many people are dealing with financial stress, maybe there's been a relationship breakup. The bigger picture is important."

Coker-Grey and her colleague, Shelley Southgate, service leader, support and development team for Affinity Services, says an important part of dealing with mental health issues in the workplace is to build a positive culture. "Employers should show they have a real commitment to the wellbeing of staff and place an emphasis on that."

It's not about lip service, or about merely distributing pamphlets around the office. It's about having a policy around mental health issues, and a culture whereby employees feel comfortable disclosing their difficulties.

"Take time to speak to your employees to see if something is happening for them, listen carefully and take action. This is not about having a conversation in the hallway - it's about having plans in place," Coker-Grey says.

"It may be a good idea to suggest to employees who seem to be having issues with depression to check out the Mental Health Foundation's self test at www.thelowdown.co.nz."

Southgate says that it's all about keeping people in the workplace. "Having someone leave because of mental illness is not a good outcome."

The benefits of having a policy, and acting on it, is in the reduction of absenteeism, being able to intervene before things such as alcoholism affect performance, and creating a culture people want to remain in.

Coker-Grey suggests companies link their wellness programme to performance reviews. "An employee can have their own plan for dealing with stress. This can be mapped out and looked at as regards to productivity."

Affinity Services advises the CCiNZ (Contact Call Centre NZ) board on wellness in the workplace. The relationship with CCiNZ has developed through senior board members from the call centre industry identifying the need for a "wellness in the workplace" dimension to what they are offering staff. Affinity Services now has a presence on the board.

Coker-Grey says: "If you're serious about having a good wellness policy, it has to come from the top - from the CEO ."

Affinity Services ascribes to Charles Rapp's Strengths Model - which sets tools and principles that look at people's strengths, rather than pathologising them, the resources they have in their community and family and what they can do rather than what they can't. The organisation is also involved in supported employment, where they find a job match for people with mental health and support them in the job.

Southgate says, "People recovering from mental health issues, as with most people, really want a job. Social inclusion is beneficial for their wellbeing - and they tend to be very productive employees."

For all employees, self-knowledge is vital. "If you know you're facing a stressful deadline, put things in place that will support you. Look holistically at what's going on in your life - and seek help if you feel you need it. Be aware that there are healthy ways of dealing with difficulties - and alcohol is not one of them," Coker-Grey says.

Another company that uses the Strengths Model is Mind & Body Consultants. What's unique about this company is that most of the staff and its peer support service have experienced mental illness.

Mind & Body Consultants general manager Jim Burdett says his company runs mental health support contracts for various DHBs. He says that in the past 150 years, the response to mental illness has been treatment and containment, but in the past 10 to 20 years there has been a move towards recovery and mental illness is no longer seen as permanent disability.

Mind & Body Consultants provides workshops to help organisations understand mental illness in a different way; supplies peer support and assists all employees to be supportive of colleagues who have mental illness.

"The employee assistance scheme makes things more egalitarian - and creates a buddy or mentor within the company for an individual. We give this person clinical supervision, so the mentor is mentored."

The Mental Health Foundation says, from a legal perspective employers cannot ask prospective employees about mental illness. Also, employees are not obligated to reveal experience of mental illness, or any other condition, unless it poses a risk of harm to others or if it may prevent an employee from carrying out the duties of the position satisfactorily.

However, the foundation says, there are benefits to disclosure. "For example, disclosing can facilitate employees' and employers' understanding of and dealing with the onset of symptoms and enable employers to organise accommodations."

Under the Human Rights Act, employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees with any illness or disability. The most common type of accommodation is flexible working, followed by a range of other measures such as:

* Provision of job coaches, mentors, and job buddies.
* Use of specialised supervisory techniques in managing employees with experience of mental illness.
* Alteration of company policy to better meet the needs of people with experience of mental illness.
* Modification of job duties.

Judi Clements, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, says the Ministry of Health's Like Minds, Like Mine programme works to counter stigma associated with mental illness, including in the workplace.

For more information visit www.likeminds.org.nz

For information on creating mentally healthy workplaces visit www.workingwell.co.nz, also www.mentalhealth.org.nz