Menu
Menu

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Find work
    • Find work
    • MAX Connect
    MAX Employment Services
  • Improve your skills
    • Improve your skills
    • Find a course
    • Study with us
    • Learning resources
      • Living in Australia
      • Learning English
      • Using computers
    Training courses
  • Health and disability
    • Health and disability
    • Health assessments
      • Do you need an assessment?
      • Refer someone for a disability assessment
    • Manage your disability at work
    • Group health programs
    • NDIS and Disability Employment Services
    • Long-term disability
    • Therapy Services
    • School leavers and students
    • Injury or Illness
    Support services
  • Help and advice
    • Help and advice
      • Getting started
      • Resumes and cover letters
      • Improve your skills
      • Health and wellbeing
      • Applications and interviews
      • Job searching tools
      • Starting work
      • Ongoing support
    • Frequently asked questions
    • Your rights and privacy
    • Help with Centrelink
    • Useful contacts
    • Feedback and complaints
    Get the support you want
  • Employer services
    • Employer services
    • National partnerships
    • Find candidates
    • How we support employers
      • Financial support
      • Employee Assistance Program
      • Pre-Employment Medicals (Injurynet)
    • Employ someone with disability
      • Benefits of diversity
      • Types of disabilities
    • Offer work experience
      • Join the PaTH program
      • Offer a traineeship
      • Be a work for the dole host
    • Our work with employers
    Find great staff
  • What we do
    • What we do
    • MAX Employment
      • jobactive
      • Disability Employment Services
      • NDIS School Leaver Employment Supports
      • Parents Next
      • Jobs Victoria
    • MAX Support
      • Adult Migrant English Program
      • Skills for Education and Employment
      • Youth jobs PaTH
      • Vocational Training
      • Child Welfare Assessments
      • Disability Assessments
      • National Panel of Assessors
      • Program for Students with Disability
      • Therapy Services
    • MAX Community
      • Housing Employment Program
      • School Based Trainee Program
      • Prison-based services
      • Employer Services
    Our services and programs
  • About us
    • About us
    • Careers with MAX
    • Our customer promise
    • Our partners
    • MAXIMUS Worldwide
    • Our impact
    • Our leadership team
    • MAX Foundation
    Learn about MAX

Header Navigation Secondary Menu

  • News
  • Careers with MAX
  • Locations
  • Contact
  • Feedback and complaints

Language menu

  • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
  • اللغة العربية
  • پښتو ژبه
  • دری
  • 中文 Zhōngwén
  • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
  • हिन्दी भाषा
  • 中文
  • Wikang Filipino
  • زبان فارسي
  • Language Support
Aa

MAX Connect

Social Icons

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube

Talk to our team

MAX solutions

MAX Solutions.

X

Services

  • Disability Employment Services
  • Assessments Australia
  • jobactive

Training Courses

  • Adult Migrant English Program
  • Skills for Education and Employment
  • PaTH Employabililty Skills Training

Articles

  • Getting Started
  • Resumes and Cover Letters
  • Health and Wellbeing

General

  • Careers
  • Find an office
  • Feedback and Complaints
  • FAQs
MAXsolutions
  • English
    Choose a language:
    • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
    • اللغة العربية
    • پښتو ژبه
    • دری
    • 中文 Zhōngwén
    • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
    • हिन्दी भाषा
    • 中文
    • Wikang Filipino
    • زبان فارسي
    • Language Support
  • Aa
  • MAXconnect
Search
Locations Contact

Breadcrumb

Home
  • Home
  • The do’s and don’t’s of managing workplace mental health
  • The do’s and don’t’s of managing workplace mental health

    Published by MAXSolutions on October 12 2018
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linked in
    The Do’s and Don’t’s of Managing Workplace Mental Health
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linked in

    If your employee had a broken leg, would you pretend you didn’t notice and have them carry on with their work (even if they couldn’t manage it)?

    Of course not.

    The Do’s and Don’t’s of Managing Workplace Mental Health

    Sadly, employers often take this approach when it comes to supporting employees with their mental health. Yes, it’s not as obvious as a broken leg, but as a manager, you need to build the confidence to ask employees how they are, and support them when they’re not.

    So what should you do?

    Do:

    Observe changes in employees

    Lateness, tiredness, decreased productivity etc.

    Have a chat

    A simple “is everything okay? You don’t seem yourself, do you want to talk?” can be all that’s needed.

    Listen

    Create an environment where the employee won’t feel judged for telling you.

    Work with them

    Find out what may trigger an episode of poor mental health and create alternative solutions, e.g. sharing work duties, working from home part-time, working with others more, working alone more etc.

    Make a plan

    Settle on options to help them and put it in writing. Keep revisiting your plan.

    Offer soft referrals

    You don’t need to know a psychologist, but if your company has an Employee Assistance Program then let them know how it works. If you don’t have an EAP, encourage them to talk to their GP for a referral onto a mental health professional.

    Don't:

    Go straight to Performance Plan (PP) mode

    If they’re late, missing deadlines or not performing, work with them to provide support them in the first instance, a PP should not be a starting point.

    Go against requests for confidentiality

    If they don’t want you to tell anyone else, don’t. If you absolutely must disclose their condition to someone else, seek their permission first (you’re only obligated to disclose if it is a safety issue at work or they’re unable to meet job requirements).

    Assume

    Make sure you learn the facts about mental illnesses so you understand what’s going on. Here’s a quick list of basic facts about mental illness from sane.org to get started.

    Think you have to solve their problems

    You are not a mental health professional. You do not have to diagnose or treat. Your job is to support your employee so they can do their job.

    Avoid talking about mental health in your workplace

    Familiarity reduces stigma. Put mental health on meeting agendas, refer to it in newsletters, talk about it in OH&S teams.

    Remember: if you have an employee living with a mental health condition (and chances are you eventually will, as 45% of us will experience poor mental health in our lifetime) it’s worth your while to help them out. A 2014 return on investment analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that for every dollar spent on creating a mentally healthy workplace, there would be a $2.30 benefit to the organisation.

    Important contact numbers and websites:

    • BeyondBlue - get the facts straight about depression and anxiety
    • Heads Up - creating mentally healthy workplaces
    • Kids Helpline - 1800 55 1800
    • Lifeline - 13 11 14
    • Suicide Callback Service - 1300 659 467.
    Tags
    • Everyone
    • Health
    • Informational
    • Motivation and mindfulness
    • Log in or register to post comments
    Category
    Health and wellbeing

    Most popular help and advice

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on January 5 2021
     

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on April 27 2020
     

    How to Talk About Your Weaknesses in a Job Interview

    How to Talk About Your Weaknesses in a Job Interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on May 10 2021
     

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Published by MAXSolutions on March 22 2021
     
    More articles
    Was this article useful?
    Why did you choose Yes?
    Why did you choose No?

    Found this useful?

    Copied to clipboard
    Share this article

    Contact us

    • Have a question?

      Chat Now

      Find quick answers about employment services.

    • Customer Enquiries

      1800 603 503

      If you are a new or existing customer or have an enquiry about a service, contact our Customer Servicing Team

    • Need support?

      1800 807 505

      Talk to someone in our health team.

        

      If you need urgent help or are in an emergency, please dial 000.

      Alternatively please call:

      Lifeline: 13 11 14

      Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

      Respect Domestic Family Violence Service: 1800 737 732

       

    Send us an email:

    • General enquiry
    • Register for Disability Employment Services
    • Register for a service
    • Feedback and complaints

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Please fill in the contact form below or   Complete a survey

    Categories Lists

    Getting started
    Applications and interviews
    Resumes and cover letters
    Health and wellbeing
    Improve your skills
    Job searching tools
    Starting work
    Ongoing support
    COVID-19

    Recent posts

    The health benefits of work
    Jobs for people with bad backs
    Laughter is the best medicine
    Practicing mindfulness
    Blowing off steam – the healthy way to manage anger

    Monthly archive

    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020

    Pagination

    • Previous page Previous
    • Page 2
    • Next page Next

    Most popular help and advice

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on January 5 2021
     

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on April 27 2020
     

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Published by MAXSolutions on March 22 2021
     

    Dealing with online application forms

    Dealing with online application forms

    Published by MAXSolutions on October 9 2018
     
    More articles
    • Find a MAX office near you

      Office

      Our locations

       
    • Register with us

      Edit

      Register now

       
    • Talk to someone now

      Call

      Contact us

       
    • Let us know how we're doing

      Feedback

      Feedback

       
    Providing employment, disability and training services

    Providing employment, disability and training services in suburban and regional areas across Australia including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth, Canberra.

    Providing employment, disability and training services

    Ensuring your safety and support

    If you need help or support, our offices are a safe environment.

    Contact us

    Language menu

    • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
    • اللغة العربية
    • پښتو ژبه
    • دری
    • 中文 Zhōngwén
    • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
    • हिन्दी भाषा
    • 中文
    • Wikang Filipino
    • زبان فارسي
    • Language Support

    Footer

    • Home
    • Privacy
    • Terms of use
    • Quality
    • Contact
    • Locations
    • Sitemap
    • MAXConnect

    Social Icons

    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube

    © Copyright 2022 MAX Solutions. All rights reserved Registered Training Organisation: 0667

    Ask a question