How to Help

How to help

If you think someone from your organisation may be struggling with their mental wellbeing, there are a few simple things you can do to help:

Stay in touch

The beauty of modern technology is that we can all stay connected no matter where we are. Unfortunately, if someone is feeling anxious or low, they may not take the initiative to get in touch. Employers and colleagues can help by making regular contact and perhaps even putting a schedule of catch ups in the diary to make sure everyone is okay and prevent lone workers from feeling isolated. Don’t be afraid to keep asking, “how are you?”, and do wait to hear the answer.

Plan together

Most people like to have a clear schedule for their working day and find unexpected changes to workload stressful. This is particularly true if someone is already struggling with their mental wellbeing. Working together to plan the day, week or month ahead can help to make sure lone workers know what is expected of them and can manage their workload. It can also help managers to identify any ‘pinch points’ that could mean workers have to put in extra hours or may become overwhelmed.

Be flexible and realistic

When someone is struggling with their mental health, productivity may slip. It’s important to recognise that this is a symptom of what they are experiencing and that it might be necessary to adjust expectations for a while. This is particularly true during events like the Coronavirus pandemic, when people were working under more difficult circumstances than usual.

Any flexibility you can offer to someone who is struggling, whether that’s in reducing workload or allowing for slightly different working hours to accommodate family commitments, is likely to boost staff loyalty and will also provide a good foundation for their recovery.

Research consistently provides evidence of a link between flexible work practices and employee engagement. Improved productivity, quality, growth and customer loyalty are in turn linked to employee engagement.

Practical measures employers can take

All employers have a responsibility - and a legal obligation - to protect the people that work for them from both physical and mental harm. In the case of mental health, employers have an opportunity to follow best practice by providing both practical support and ongoing reassurance. They can do so in the following ways:

Conduct a Stress Risk Assessment

When employing lone workers, it is particularly important to understand the potential triggers for workplace stress. This is where a Stress Risk Assessment (SRA) comes in; it will help an employer to manage and communicate the risks of their business and to take the right protective actions. The HSE provides useful guidance on how to create and complete a SRA, along with examples for businesses of different sizes. Used alongside a clear and easily accessible Lone Worker Policy, it can give lone workers the clarity and reassurance they need, and help to avoid any unnecessary stress at work.

Follow the 6 Management Standards

Also provided by the HSE, the Management Standards cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and wellbeing, lower productivity and increased sickness absence.

Using them can be particularly important when managing lone workers and can provide a helpful structure for thinking about how your business can prevent and manage stress.

See the standards on the next page.

Practical measures employers can take

The areas are outlined as:

Demands: Includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.

Control: How much say do people have over the way they work?

Support: Includes encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.

Relationships: Includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.

Role: Do people understand their role within the organisation and does the organisation ensure roles are not conflicting?

Change: How is organisational change managed and communicated?

Used well, the management standards can help employers to meet their legal duty: to assess the level of risk from hazards in the workplace and to take all reasonably practicable measures to prevent or sufficiently reduce that risk.

Provide appropriate lone worker devices
Lone worker devices are a crucial practical measure to protect employees from the threat of physical danger or injury.

Directly connected to an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC), the device provides a two-way audio connection between the user and a fully-trained Controller who will monitor the situation and initiate a response. This could be to an escalation contact or the emergency services.

Having this remote back-up support also provides extra psychological reassurance that help is available, despite working in isolation.

A lone worker app is a popular alternative. The Peoplesafe Pro App quickly turns a smartphone or tablet into a personal safety device.

It’s just one of several different accredited services that Peoplesafe provides to help make lone working safer.

Protecting employees is good for business

Poor mental health costs employers between £33 billion and £42 billion each year, with over half of the cost coming from presenteeism – when individuals are less productive due to poor mental health in work and with additional costs from sickness absence and staff turnover.

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