“I am an HR Manager and have been asked by my Managing Director to review our Sickness Absence policy and procedures, to ensure that they adequately cover mental health issues.  In light of the current publicity around mental health issues, what else do I need to consider with respect to employees and the organisation’s duty of care towards them?”

It is estimated that the costs to the UK economy of over £100 billion per year, are as a result of various mental health issues which include, loss of productivity, sickness days and poor performance.

There are still invisible barriers to overcome in the workplace when it comes to mental health.  Whilst it is easy to see that someone has broken their leg using crutches/a cast, a mental health issue is not so easy to identify. In addition, there still remains a fear of stigma.  Employees often fear that if they reveal a mental health issue to their employer, that that would adversely affect their career progression and/or, salary and that they would be treated differently because of it.

It is important for an employer to recognise that a mental health condition can constitute a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, “DDA”, if certain conditions are fulfilled. If the employee is disabled, then there would be a duty for the employer to make reasonable adjustments to support that employee.  Remember that a failure to deal with the issue, would risk a possible disability discrimination claim and compensation in such claims is uncapped.

As set out in the campaign “Heads Together”, communication is the fundamental starting point. Employers need to be open to talking to employees about mental health and to encourage them to raise issues with HR/Line Managers. Employees need to know that they will be taken seriously and that any problems identified will be tackled.

As a starting point you should:

• review and update any policies and procedures, especially any stress at work policy, to ensure that they are comprehensive and easily accessible by employees;

• consider carrying out employee surveys on mental health issues and also consider carrying out risk assessments for specific roles.  You should then remove/reduce any causes of stress in the particular role as a result;

• crucially, you should train your managers on awareness of mental health issues.  Their manager will often be the person with whom the employee initially speaks, so it is crucial that the manager is aware of how to handle the issue to include offering support, time off work if needed etc;

• you also need to be mindful of ensuring that an employee does not continue to work, when to do so would be endangering their health and that could invite possible personal injury claims from that employee;

• it is very important that you stay in touch with an employee who is absent from the workplace. When they return, you should meet with them and consider a possible phased return to work and also whether any adjustments need to be made to their duties.