It is a safe bet that every financial services firm in Canada has at least one employee dealing mental health problems.
Statistics show that about one in four Canadian adults will experience at least one mental health challenge at some point in their lives. These challenges could be related to events such as the loss of a child, the death of a parent, a marital breakdown or a chemical imbalance in the brain.
Failing to deal with mental health can be costly. Mental health issues cost the Canadian economy $51 billion per year, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).
Employers and office managers should be prepared to deal with an employee who is experiencing mental health problems. Perhaps the biggest challenge with mental health is that it’s an invisible illness, says John Starzynski, president of the Mood Disorders Society of Canada in Guelph, Ont.
“People are going to hide it,” Starzynski says. “They don’t want to disclose that they have any mental illness because of the stigma attached to it. If you [as an employer] ask them about it, they’ll deny there’s anything wrong. They’re afraid that if they tell you, you’re going to fire them.”
So, what can managers and colleagues watch for? Early signs of mental health problems include increased absenteeism; lateness in a team member who usually comes in early or on time; a significant drop in productivity; changes in hygiene; quickness to anger; panic attacks; crying for no apparent reason; and isolation, such as the person shutting themselves off by closing his or her office door.
Mood swings are common, too, Starzynski says. Some people can be jovial at the beginning of a meeting but end things off sad or angry.
“You might see some of these things and not others,” he adds. The key is to note behaviour that is out of character for that person.
Do not ignore a staff member who is struggling, says Stacey Krueger, community educator with the CMHA in Winnipeg. Sometimes, taking an interest in that person and asking how they’re doing today can be the first step on the road to recovery.
“How are you feeling?”
“You can say, ‘Hey, I’ve noticed lately that you haven’t been yourself. How are you feeling today?’ You don’t have to point out the behaviour,” Krueger says.
People are often reluctant to let their bosses know they’re struggling because they’re afraid they’ll get overlooked for the next promotion or the next big project.
But, Krueger says, mental health should be regarded in much the same way as physical health. “It should be the same as needing time off for surgery,” she says.
If you don’t have policies in place to deal with mental health issues in the workplace, the time to start developing them is now. When employees know such a policy is in place, they’re more likely to open up and talk to their supervisor or managing partner. For employees who don’t feel comfortable discussing their mental health issues directly with their managers, those employees should have access to a confidential help line, Starzynski says. Many larger firms have employee assistance programs; smaller firms should at least communicate to employees that they can get help confidentially and take time off to deal with their issues if they need to.
“[Managers] have to deal with the fact that people are people,” Starzynski says. “Don’t penalize them because they go off and get some help.”
In the long run, a plan to deal with mental health issues will result in more efficient team members, Starzynski adds, because if they know it’s safe to take care of themselves, they will.
Avoid demeaning language
Making people feel safe also means avoiding the kind of language that demeans or mocks mental health issues, according to Susan Hodkinson, chief operating officer with Crowe Soberman LLP, a Toronto-based accounting firm. People talk about others being “crazy, insane or nuts,” she says, which is offensive.
People also may use terms such as “bipolar” or “schizophrenic” to describe a co-worker’s condition, Hodkinson says. “Those are mental health terms,” she says, “and people struggling with [such a health condition] can be very sensitive. Having co-workers talking about that kind of thing can make you uncomfortable.”
Hodkinson says the biggest challenge is de-stigmatizing mental illness: “If you have diabetes, you’ve told your employer that you need to take insulin. But if somebody has a mental health issue, they’re not likely to share [that information] with workers or their boss because of the stigma. The challenge of diabetes is no better or worse than mental health.”
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