Providing Employee Support in the Workplace

1 Providing Employee Support in the Workplace A Guide to Managing Mental Health Issues miami - dade County Human Resources Department January 2010 v. Providing Employee Support in the Workplace Human Resources Department 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Learning Objectives ..3 Organizational Impact ..3 Organizational Stress ..4 Knowing and Managing Mental Health Problems Successfully ..6 The Stigma of Mental Health Disorders ..6 The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ..7 Early Identification of Mental Health Symptoms.

2 8 Using Ordinary Management Tools to Identify Problems and Needs ..11 Supporting Employees with Mental Health Issues ..12 Resolving Mental Health Emergencies ..13 Suicide and Suicide Threats ..15 Workplace Violence ..18 Desk Rage ..20 Hot Topics ..22 Depression ..22 Anger Management in the Workplace ..24 Domestic Violence ..27 Managing Problems in Living Situations ..28 Family Problems ..29 Death in the Family ..29 Financial Problems ..30 Family Caregivers ..35 Summary ..37 Bibliography ..38 Providing Employee Support in the Workplace Human Resources Department 3 Learning Objectives Understand the impact of mental health issues on the miami - dade County workforce and the role of mid-level managers in maintaining the mental health of their employees.

3 Recognize stigma as an impediment to proper management of mental health issues and develop the skills required to Support employees and the organization. Recognize job-related stressors that contribute to mental illness problems and learn how to reduce stress at your worksite. Develop the skills to recognize mental health problems in the early stages and reduce the need for emergency intervention. Develop the skills to recognize mental health emergencies and how to respond. Acquire knowledge of available resources within miami - dade County government and the greater community to assist employees experiencing mental health problems.

4 Organizational Impact Mental illness is a very real concern that affects productivity and the ability of an organization to meet its goals. Managers routinely face day-to-day management issues which are directly impacted by the mental health of their employees. These situations are becoming more common because of the additional Workplace stress caused by a struggling economy, legal compliance issues, increased use of complex technology, and greater expectations to deliver excellence.

5 It is important that managers are capable of recognizing mental health problems. Managers are also expected to be familiar with the expectations of the organization for dealing with mental health problems, as well as possess the skills necessary to maintain Employee productivity and positive mental health. The majority of those who experience mental health problems can and do make a good recovery if given the proper Support . It is important that line managers know how to Support employees with mental health problems at work, so that miami - dade County can retain valuable staff and their skills.

6 Failure to appropriately manage these problems can be costly. Consider these statistics reported by Mercer, a global HR consulting firm, following its study on mental health issues in the Workplace : 35 million work days are lost to mental illness each year. 20% of employees will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime. Providing Employee Support in the Workplace Human Resources Department 4 Mental illness is costing the economy $52 billion dollars a year. The World Health Organization estimates that depression will rank as the second-leading cause of disability in the world by the year 2020.

7 8% of employees take medication for mental illness. Mental health and addiction account for 60-65% of all disability insurance claims. In its study, Mercer surveyed employees working in 452 public and private sector organizations. Eighty-five percent of the respondents were employed in the human resources field. 79% of the respondents said that mental health issues are more important in their Workplace than they were 3-5 years ago. 66% reported that mental health is one of their top ten priorities. Mental health issues carry a significant cost for employers because of losses in human capital and skills.

8 These losses can be mitigated through organizational awareness and with a management staff that is educated and prepared to address these issues. By creating mental health awareness, this training course is designed to help supervisors and managers meet the County s strategic goals of retaining valuable employees, improving customer service, and promoting fiscal responsibility. Source: Nicholl, A. (2008). Time for action: Managing mental health in the Workplace . Cambridge, MA: Mercer LLC. Organizational Stress Stress is not a mental health diagnosis, but it is often the origin and/or trigger for many mental health problems.

9 In this section, we will explore stress to organizations and how miami - dade County managers can encourage employees to continue to produce excellence, even while experiencing a major trauma. Traumatic events can alter the normal functioning of an organization (just as they do with people) and produce stress that carries harmful short and long-term effects. Organizations can be traumatized and suffer stress reactions for reasons ranging from terrorist attacks to corporate takeovers.

10 However, the most common traumas that influence organizations are layoffs. Layoffs obviously impact those who lose their jobs, but the fallout also has lasting impressions on the employees who remain. Layoffs affect Employee confidence in several key areas, including job security, diminished advancement opportunities, heavier workloads, less teamwork, higher stress, and feelings of being undervalued. Providing Employee Support in the Workplace Human Resources Department 5 According to recent surveys conducted by Challenge, Gray & Christmas, Inc.