Supporting Employees
Creating a mentally healthy workplace is good for both employees and employers.
Every year 1 in 4 of us in Scotland will experience a mental health problem. This means that almost all employers will have staff that experience mental health problems.
A mentally healthy workplace is more productive, has lower staff turnover and lower absences. Promoting mental health can also help with staff morale, working relationships and corporate image.
Just as all individuals are unique, every workplace is different. Creating an atmosphere in which people can talk about their mental health and address problems before they become crises helps to retain staff and decrease sickness absence.
As with any workplace issue, the sooner the problem is identified, the better. Early, appropriate action from a line manager can help to prevent problems becoming more serious, and help to retain staff. It is best to try to address problems before an individual gets to the stage of being on long term sick leave. So it is important to feel confident about bringing up the subject of mental health.
Regular work planning sessions, appraisals, reviews or return to work interviews are all ordinary management processes which provide neutral and non-stigmatising opportunities to find out about any problems your employee may be having.
How To Be Mentally Healthy At Work
This guide covers the relationship between work and mental health, managing stress and difficult relationships at work, and what support you can get.
See Me
See Me is the national programme to end mental health discrimination.
See Me can provide materials to display in your workplace.
Workplace Wellbeing
To create a mentally healthy workplace, one of the things you need to do is focus on staff well-being.
SAMH run workplace sessions and campaigns centred around the workplace.
