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Employee mental health remains a high priority in just about every organisation’s strategic plan, and organisations taking the lead are now offering mental health benefits like mental health training for managers and business leaders, optional funded therapy sessions, and programmes for teams to help build resilience when they have stressed employees.
The average person spends nearly one-third of their life at work, so the need to have the right workplace policies in place, and to upskill managers and leaders in mental health training, is essential for a resilient, engaged and loyal workforce.
It is well-researched that mental ill health can have a detrimental effect on employee productivity, collaboration, and happiness, which only spells bad news for employees and businesses.
Research by Public Health England shows the most vulnerable people with mental health conditions are more likely to work in precarious roles with part-time or temporary hours, high turnover, and low pay. This highlights the importance of implementing a comprehensive workplace mental health policy that doesn’t
simply tick boxes but helps establish a business as one that sees mental health issues on the same level of importance as physical wellbeing.
A mental health audit can help a company better understand parts of its business that could remain hidden from view or present as future problems. The mental health requirements of employees continue to shift, so evaluating where the gaps exist now in terms of mental health training, diagnosis and treatment for conditions, and the use of data to measure the success of the workplace, can help leaders to prepare and make informed decisions about their workforce’s requirements before creating a policy.
What works for one team may differ from others. Understanding how people have been affected by mental pressures, such as the cost-of-living crisis, can provide insights into the kind of support and resources missing from a business.
Even with highly involved management and executives, it is impossible to have a clear picture of everything happening with an organisation’s employees. A clinically led mental health audit is a cost-effective way of understanding workers’ everyday lived experiences and what mental health support is available on the ground. Business leaders can ask themselves: what actions can we take to make life and work more manageable? And PMI and healthcare providers can better understand the support businesses and individuals require.
What does it mean to incorporate a mental health audit?
Similar to the process of a Health and Safety audit, mental health audits look at various risk factors within an organisation that could negatively impact the mental wellbeing of staff. Using best practices, mental health consultants will explore areas of the organisation that could hinder an employee from effectively carrying out their job.
An audit measures a business’s current practice against a defined standard. These standards form part of clinical governance, which aims to safeguard high-quality clinical care for all employees and those at senior levels.
With more businesses looking to reduce overheads and costs, an audit can help executives make more informed decisions on everything from where to allocate resources, to predicting the likelihood of sickness, and maximising productivity and engagement in teams.
Mental health audits are not a way to capture or record evidence of a particular employee’s mental health on an employer’s behalf, or a criticism of employers, management, or individuals themselves.
What to do after a mental health audit
After carrying out the audit, a clinician or therapist can help deliver a multitude of services to the business including setting and implementing a mental health policy, forming on-demand mental healthcare and even extending to bespoke mental health training in the workplace.
Mental health policies can be explicitly designed to support employees struggling with mental conditions to remain in work – or return to it. Through clinically led mental health training, managers and business leaders are better equipped to have conversations that are not always easy but should not be shied away from. The focus should be placed on what can be done to support the employee’s mental wellbeing – not on diagnosing an ‘illness.’
No policy will be perfect, and people struggling with mental health can often react unexpectedly but having some guidelines to refer to can still be helpful.