Workplace strategy 7 – Support recovery

Life’s ups and downs mean that most people experience a mental health concern at some point in their life. Relationship breakdowns, grief, financial pressure, a traumatic experience or a tough period at work are all things that can cause symptoms like anxiety, sadness, restlessness, and fatigue. Others may be living with and managing an ongoing mental health condition.

Employers should have established ways of supporting staff in their return-to-work following leave from a mental health episode or period of illness.

The Roadmap Planner has been designed to help businesses understand psychological safety and offer guidance about building your own Workplace Wellbeing Plan. Having a Workplace Wellbeing Plan means you will be taking steps to meet your Work, Health, and Safety duty of care by managing psychosocial hazards at work. Supporting recovery is number seven of the Seven Workplace Strategies in the Roadmap Planner.
 
Business owners or managers are often the first point of contact for injured staff. As leaders how you respond can significantly influence the employee’s experience of being unwell as well as their recovery and return to work journey.

Employees may feel embarrassment and guilt and may fear that others will think they are weak or lazy. Mangers who respond with empathy and consideration can help with these feelings. Employees who feel supported are more likely to feel engaged in their work, manage stress better and have improved productivity.

Having a planned return-to-work approach for your employees based on individual needs reinforces that mental ill health is not a barrier to returning to work. This return-to-work plan or policy should aim to support the employee through their recovery process, assist them to access leave options, provide information and access to professional support and include necessary and reasonable adjustments to work or shifts to support their ongoing recovery.

So where do you start?  
Try these as your first steps: 

• Read story seven ‘Tahnee – Support recovery’ in the Healthy Heads Planner
• Read the Healthy Heads Return to Work Policy
  • Identify if you have existing return-to-work policies and compare the two
• Establish your own return-to-work plan and gain agreement from key people in your business or organisation
• Consider key people for relevant industry tailored training to better support people with mental health conditions, such as Mental Health First Aid training
• Read the Healthy Heads Guidelines for Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategies pages, 73 to 75 on supporting recovery.

 
By completing these first steps you are well on the way to applying some of the elements within the Seven Workplace Strategies.  
 
If you would like further information on our Roadmap Planner please reach out to our Director, Industry Relations and Program Management, Melissa Weller on [email protected]

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