Purpose of this Template

Employees often refrain from asking for help or mentioning their mental health needs in the workplace for fear of the negative impact on their career (promotions, salary raises, etc). Reference this template when preparing to have mental health conversations with your team members.

Mental Health in the Workplace

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased global mental health conditions, namely anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder. In the workplace, one in four employees report experiencing burnout symptoms [Source: McKinsey]. Burnout decreases productivity, creativity and workplace satisfaction and has dire consequences to the health and wellbeing of employees. It is in the organization’s best interest to be aware if employees are struggling with mental illness as early intervention is key in reducing symptoms. Given how common mental illness is, organizations must get comfortable talking about it.

Pro Tip

Not all organizations have the resources to assist employees with mental health issues. It’s important to prepare with a list of resources outside of your organization that offer appropriate support, like nonprofit organizations, community organizing organizations, and intersectional providers that offer services specialized around BIPOC, disabilities, culture, immigration experience, etc.

How To Talk About Mental Health

Talking about mental health in the workplace can feel tricky. Perhaps we don’t want to overstep or maybe we assume that employees can figure things out on their own. However, by not talking about mental health, we are reinforcing the stigma– that there is something to be ashamed of. That is misguided because almost everyone is experiencing an increase in mental health symptoms.

Don’t Assume Employees Will Disclose

Most people who experience mental health concerns try to mask it because of the stigma against mental illness. Employees want to seem competent and capable in the workplace; there is a real fear that if they disclose, the information may be used against them. There is also an inherent power dynamic– managers literally have a say in whether someone gets a promotion, bonus or salary raise. It only makes sense that most employees feel hesitant to ask for help or share that they are struggling.

Establish Safety and Trust

Due to the mental health stigma and inherent power dynamic, leadership must establish safety and trust first. And it starts with us. If we expect employees to come to us when they are struggling, we must model the behavior. If you are experiencing adverse feelings such as anxiety or sadness, we recommend naming it. It also gives you the opportunity to model self-regulation behavior. This can look like naming that you are experiencing stress and informing your team that you are going to take a 30 min break to decompress. In this way, the subject of mental health has already been broached and signals an open door.

Check-In During 1:1 Meetings

We recommend including regular mental health check-ins to your 1:1s. This will aid in getting ahead of any problems. This can look like articulating:

“I want to make sure we’re checking in about your mental health. I know things have been stressful around here. Just know whatever you share with me is kept confidential. I’m here to help you be successful.”

Ensuring confidentiality is how we create the safety for employees to share about their mental health. Honor confidentiality and always thank the employee for sharing as it takes a tremendous amount of courage to share what’s really going on to a manager. If you need to break confidentiality because an employee shared something of concern, always inform the employee first. This can look like saying:

“Thank you so much for sharing. That sounds incredibly difficult. I think it would be really useful if [HR, leadership, etc.] is aware too so we can best support you.”

From there, you can problem-solve with the employee and empower them to decide on how they’d like to disclose to the necessary parties. It’s important to iterate the purpose of checking in on everyone’s mental health is to best support them. This is not about picking people out, it’s about creating an environment where every employee has the resources to be successful. Many times supervisors are surprised that it is their most reliable, resourceful and talented employees who are struggling the most.

How to Ask

We recommend adding a standard mental health check-in question to your 1:1 meeting agenda. Here are some examples of how to ask:

“How are you feeling this week?”
“How are feeling on a scale of 1-10”
“What’s one word to describe how you are feeling?”

To further cultivate safety and trust, we recommend that the supervisor also share their response to the question. This models the behavior we are looking for and as an added bonus, tends to strengthen the relationship between both parties.

Ask What They Need

If an employee does share that they are not at 100%, that is okay. Just because someone is sharing how they are feeling or what’s really going on, doesn’t necessarily mean they want you to fix it. Sometimes just the act of articulating our feelings relieves so much pressure. Do not underestimate the power of empathetic listening. A great response would be:

“Thank you so much for sharing. Is there anything you need?”

This would be a wonderful opportunity for the employee to practice communicating their needs. If they seem stuck, you can of course offer to collaborate with them on finding solutions.

Example Conversation for Managers

The below is an example of a conversation between a manager and employee when mental health issues arise.

Manager: Hi [insert employee name here], I noticed you’ve been having a hard time completing assignments on time. I wanted to check in with you to see if everything is alright?

Employee: Yes, it’s been tough to focus on work when there are so many terrible things happening in the world because it impacts my community. I’m trying to do my best, I will get that report to you by Friday.

Manager: I understand what has been going on in the world has made it difficult. I cannot imagine how these things impact you and your community. If there is something you need help with, please communicate with me so we can work on adjusting when we need to. There are resources available to you as an employee, is it alright if I share those with you?

Employee: I guess that would be helpful.

Manager: There is no pressure to use these but our EAP program offers X amount of free sessions with a professional to help you cope with these types of events. Also, our HR department is available to help if you would like to request formal accommodations. Is there anything specific I can do to support you?

Employee: I don’t want to use our EAP program so they don’t use this information against me. All I want is to be able to take breaks when I need to and some space to process.

Manager: I can assure you, your use of the EAP will not impact your performance or your employment. Our primary concern is to ensure you’re taken care of and are supported.

Resources

McKinsey Health Institute

Contributors to this Template

Mona Eshaiker, LMFT, Advisor
Ayanna Kelly, DEI Product Manager & Mental Health & Latinx Culture Advisor

www.risewithophr.com

OPHR: One Person Human Resources