When a staff member experiences a mental health condition, it can affect the entire team.
Without clear communication from managers, there’s a risk that colleagues may judge the person to be ‘slacking off’ or not pulling their weight. To protect the employee's right to privacy, you may need to communicate what's going on without providing specific details of their condition.
It’s important to:
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protect the employee’s right to privacy and confidentiality. Ensure all staff are educated about mental health to address any misconceptions team members may have about mental health. You could do this by putting educational information and/or posters around the workplace, delivering a series of short educational talks, such as the tool box talks, watching webinars as a team or listening to personal stories and case studies.
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communicate information to the team regularly, giving them updates about how the situation is being managed.
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manage the impact of any absences on the team and distribute the workload appropriately. If someone is unwell for a period of time, ensure you check in regularly with the other team members to review their potentially increased workload, and re-prioritise things as required.
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consider swapping tasks within the team to avoid other colleagues taking on excessive workloads.
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recognise when conflicts, gossip and bullying occur and be proactive in dealing with the situation. As a leader demonstrate zero tolerance to this type of behaviour, and remind your staff to be respectful of each other at all times.