Try typing “Who is responsible for my mental health at work?” into Google. The overwhelming response places the onus firmly on employers. The employers’ legal ‘duty of care’ is explained in detail, as are the various penalties, financial and reputational, for getting it wrong. Helpfully, there’s also find plenty of advice on how to take your employer to a tribunal for disability discrimination.
HSE says “Whether work is causing the health issue or aggravating it, employers have a legal responsibility to help their employees. Like any other safety or health hazard at work, work-related mental health issues must be assessed to measure the levels of risk to staff.”
And ACAS says that employers must do all they reasonably can to support their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing. This includes:
- making sure the working environment is safe
- protecting staff from discrimination
- carrying out risk assessments
Employers must treat mental and physical health as equally important.
We wholeheartedly endorse the regulatory position on employee mental health. Along with various leading charities that help to shape our knowledge and understanding of workplace mental health, the legislation has provided the necessary driver for positive change.
What cannot be ignored though is the 2.8 million people of working age who are not in the workforce due to ill health, with mental health conditions like anxiety, stress and depression becoming increasingly common. As well as the human toll, the resultant welfare bill is a huge cost to the UK economy which is unsustainable. Is this all the fault of employers?
Perhaps it’s becoming a little too easy for employees to cite mental health problems as a barrier to work. We’ve heard stories of workers telling their employers that they have a mental health problem and that it’s their employers’ responsibility to put things right. However, employees have a responsibility for their mental health too.
As with all health and safety, as long as the employer has appropriate mental health support initiatives in place then workers have a responsibility to follow the recommended health and safety guidance. In other words, employees should make efforts to take care of their own mental health.
For example, to build on an employer’s mental health initiatives, individual employees could:
- Recognise how to care for their own mental health at work.
- Actively practise stress management habits.
- Inform their line manager if they are feeling overwhelmed.
In short then, employers should be proactive with their mental health and wellbeing programmes, but employees also need to be engaged and involved with the initiatives being offered.
As stressed at the beginning of this article, employers have a duty to create a safe working environment and protect the mental health and wellbeing of their staff. However, those employers who worry that all of the pressure and liability is on them alone can take comfort in the realisation that responsibility for mental health and wellbeing across the organisation should be a shared endeavour.
Recognising that there should be a balance of responsibility across the organisation is one of the first steps towards developing a mental health and wellbeing strategy.
Proactive platforms like Gallantium can provide employers with the tools to deliver a robust mental health and wellbeing initiative that achieves just that.
