Who watches over the watchers? It’s an age-old question that’s usually asked in the context of policing those who have power over others. But I’d suggest it has a fresh relevance to a major challenge which your clients may be facing: the need to look after the employees they rely on to help protect the mental wellbeing of their colleagues.
At a time when World Mental Health Day has raised awareness of issues like this, there’s new evidence that such challenges aren’t about to disappear any time soon. In our latest research1, Aviva asked employers how the incidence of employees with mental health conditions had changed over the last three years.
Nearly 70 per cent said they have seen an increase. And a similar proportion considered stress related illness to be the biggest occupational health issue they will face next year – an increase of around 10 percentage points since pre-pandemic.
To combat this, one of the employer’s greatest assets is a committed and suitably supported line manager. Line managers are best placed to identify risks to mental health and issues which can affect the wellbeing of their team members. They’re the ones most likely to be seeing – virtually, if not face to face – the people who make the business tick on a day-to-day level. And, with a responsibility for evaluating the performance of individuals, they’re already used to looking closely at the factors which affect colleagues’ ability to do their job well. And one of those factors, of course, is likely to be mental wellbeing.
Investing in mental health awareness training
But line managers aren’t psychologists. They need some level of support – which could well include specialist training – in order to help them identify and address warning signs hopefully before they can lead to more serious conditions.
We do have some good news here. More business leaders have taken up the option to invest in line manager training since the pandemic started. In 2021 research, 27 per cent of line managers said they’d completed an online course and 25 per cent face-to-face training. In 2019, when asked the same question, the respective figures were just 6 per cent and 16 per cent.
There’s still plenty more to do. We’ve already seen that concern over stress-related illness is growing, and employers’ ability to empower their people to find solutions is yet to peak. 39 per cent of the business leaders we consulted said they want better line manager training on mental health, with around a third
(33 per cent) saying they would like better access to online support.
Of those who have yet to receive training, nearly 17 per cent said they believed they would benefit from it. And once managers do have it, there are grounds for confidence that it will be put to good use – 80 per cent of those who had been trained said they had already used what they’d learned to help a colleague.
Considering the managers’ own wellbeing
But supporting managers doesn’t only mean training them to help confront mental wellbeing issues in others. We need to make sure they have the time and resources to perform this important aspect of their job… and we also need to support their own mental wellbeing, for the sake of themselves and the people for whom they are responsible.
Nearly half (47.7 per cent) of business leaders are worried about their own mental health – an increase of 10 percentage points since we last asked about this in 2019. And over 41 per cent say they’re too busy to recognise whether their team is under pressure. This is something businesses absolutely need to address if they’re to preserve their overall resilience. As well as looking closely at priorities in determining managers’ workload, it’s also important that they receive their own mental health support.
Like their managers, business leaders themselves also need to know where to find support in achieving these objectives. This means making sure they’re getting what they need from providers. It’s worth checking whether PMI or group income protection policies include a broad enough package of benefits to help protect employee wellbeing – including, of course, clinically sound training for line managers.
This training could help managers gain confidence in tackling issues such as changing behaviour in a team member, responding to crisis situations, holding difficult conversations or helping employees to adapt to changes in the workplace. And, of course, looking after their own mental wellbeing.
Support like this can make a big difference to your clients and the people they depend on. Not so much watching the watchers, perhaps, but rather looking out for them… as they watch over the people whose wellbeing is so important to all of us.