How should an employer address concerns that an ambitious employee might be stressed or depressed whilst they are still performing at work?
We discussed this topic in a recent round table of top flight HR professionals. Here are the 9 key HR insights which we are able to share with you.
- Consider encouraging them to visit their G.P or other health professional.
- Carry out a stress risk assessment.
- Consider whether there are any projects they might like to become involved in to help with their development to build some confidence and interaction with them if that is an issue.
- Consider taking them off site for a friendly chat, explaining how you would like to support them and their career development and possibly share with them some of your own journey. A neutral space can be helpful.
- Assess them each week to check they are ok.
- Remember you’re unlikely to be a medical professional yourself so step back. You may be able to enlist the support of Mental Health first aiders to sign post them to the right support network for them.
- There may be other underlying issues such as substance misuse. Again, signposting to the correct policies and agencies that can help them might assist along with an occupational health assessment.
- Consider having an online or App based counselling service they can access without having to talk to anyone if talking is difficult for them.
- Have customer centric conversations. Would it benefit the employee if some adjustments were made to their role on a temporary or permanent basis. Does the employee need more or less work related challenge at that point in time.
For more information about managing employees during ill health or challenging times or for more information about any of the topics raised in this article please don’t hesitate to contact [email protected]
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