SusanRanford

How to Talk to Your Boss about Mental Health

March 5, 2018 by SusanRanford

While discussions about mental health are becoming more commonplace, people remain hesitant to have these discussions with their boss. This is, in part, due to fears of unfair treatment, loss of credibility, and being passed on opportunities and promotions. There are many misconceptions about mental health, especially in relation to one’s work ethic thus, discussions about mental health can help rectify these misconceptions.

Mental health in the United States is common–it is estimated that there are 43.4 million adults currently living with any mental illness–including anxiety, major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Specifically, the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that:

18% of adults have an anxiety disorder (including post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder)
9.5% of adults have depression
4% of adults have attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
2.6% of adults have bipolar disorder
1% of adults have schizophrenia

Additionally, about 18% of adults in the workforce report having a mental health condition in any given month.

Disclosing Mental Health Information in the Office

While disclosing mental health disorders to a boss or superior is a choice, talking with your boss can help facilitate subsequent conversations about proper accommodations, workload, work-leave and flexible deadlines.

Before talking to your boss, some key points to take into consideration are:

Asking yourself some hard questions about your capabilities.
- Are you certain you can effectively do your job with your mental health disorder?
- Can you continue treatments or medication regimen when working?
  - If no, then consider asking for an accommodation to help improve your job performance.
Do some research.
- How does this disorder impact your work ethic at your job?
- What accommodations do you believe are best suited for you needs?
- What are your (work-related) stresses and what do you believe will help alleviate them?
Compile information about your mental health disorder and proper documentation.
- What information do you believe is useful to disclose to your boss?
- What is it about your mental health disorder that makes certain job responsibilities difficult?

Next, consider planning out your conversation by preparing your boss about having an important conversation, addressing your concerns specifically, and offering suggestions of what you believe would work best for you. Some key points to remember are:

Only disclose relevant information about your mental health that will help improve your work productivity and stress levels
Let your boss know how and when they can support you and think ahead of what resources would be beneficial to you
Inform your boss by providing them with proper information after you talk with them to help them better understand.

Following, identify specify accommodations such as– flexible work schedules or start times, reduction in noise or other distractions in the work area, working from home or telecommuting, written directions or tasks, regular written or verbal feedback, private space for breaks, or the use of a job coach–that you believe will help you succeed at your job performance.

Some things to keep in mind when requesting an accommodation is:

To contact your human resources department to inquire into the accommodation request process
To prepare how to explain which accommodations you believe will help you the best
To keep all documentation and detailed notes of communication between you and yoru boss
To negotiate and be flexible when discussing your options

Know Your Rights

While there are fears about discrimination in the workplace after disclosing mental health disorders, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits discrimination based on mental health. Under the ADA, employees have protections which ensure their right to privacy and to a job accommodations–given this doesn’t cause unforeseen hardship for the employer. Additionally, Social Security Disability can help employees who have mental health disorders seek coverage for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Managing Stress in the Workplace

While discussing accommodations and other options with your boss is necessary to improve your job productivity and manage your mental health disorder at work, it is also important to do what you can to manage your stress levels. Here are some tips to alleviate stress in the workplace:

Educate yourself by recognizing the symptoms of your disorder and how to best handle them while at work
Stay organized by keeping your desk and personal work area clean and by prioritizing your work to avoid missing deadlines and getting stressed out
Honor the work-life balance by setting boundaries to ensure your work life doesn’t interfere with your home/social life and avoiding bringing work home with you
Take advantage of employer resources and benefits including an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), if your workplace offers one

Most importantly, treatment–including therapy, medication, and complementary and alternative treatments, is seen as the most helpful to people who have mental health disorders.

Reasons Why You Need to Implement a Flexible Working Schedule

February 28, 2018 by SusanRanford

With more and more families in need of finding a balance between work and personal lives, flexible work arrangements have become a necessity. Workers need non-working time for personal obligations and family responsibilities, and companies must adapt their culture to the new trend.

In fact, “workplace flexibility” is one of the most important elements millennials are looking for when getting a job. That’s why you business owners are coming up with efficient solutions to meet employees’ expectations:

Compression of workdays–More and more companies are already experimenting with the 4-day working week
Flexible daily hours–Quitting the 9 to 5 schedule brings a new perspective for many employers
Telecommuting–Employees work from home

Implementing these new trends asks for resources and a willing to change. You need to invest time and money in a system that allows flexible work arrangements. Yet, these methods bring significant benefits, not only for your employees, but also for the company. Here are some reasons why you should be doing this in your business:

You Boost Productivity

When your employees get control over their working time, they tend to organize daily activities better. This way, they’re more efficient, finish activities in time, and respect milestones and deadlines.

Flexibility makes your employees happy. They get to work from comfortable places–their homes, coffee shops, parks, which allows them to focus on their creative tasks and come up with innovative solutions. In the meantime, they can easily remain connected to what happens inside the office.

If your company uses a business management tool, your employees can access any information they need, right from their computers. As an employer, you get to keep track of their progress.

Flexible working hours contribute to a healthier working environment. Employees deal with lower levels of stress when they don’t have to follow a rigid schedule. Even more, they get to reduce hours spent in traffic going and coming from work.

Studies show that flexibility at work has positive effects over employees’ mental health. It also influences sleep quality, sleep duration, blood pressure, and heart rate. Healthier employees are more productive, even more, they tend to recover easier when they’re sick and their periods of leave are shorter.

You Get to Increases Loyalty and Engagement

Around 60 percent of the American office workers would leave their jobs for new opportunities. This lack of engagement brings in bad performance, which translates to low productivity.

In context, you should analyze how engaged your staff is with the company. You could also create a friendlier working environment, where your employees can find meaning in their work.

Working flexibility influences how employees feel about their jobs. If you give them the freedom to organize when and where to work, you will see an improvement in how your employees align with the company’s values.

Higher engagement levels reduce absenteeism at work, as employees will be more motivated. Furthermore, they have fewer reasons to miss work in special situations, like childcare or eldercare. It’s easier to respect work obligations when you have a flexible schedule that allows you to take care of your family needs at the same time.

You Reduce Costs with Recruiting and Hiring

Loyal employees bring further advantages. First, they’re more productive, as they’re working not only for their salaries, but also for the company’s progress. Second, you get to save money, by not having to substitute them.

Companies spend a lot for recruiting, interviewing, and training personnel. Moreover, new employees have low productivity levels and can have negative effects over workflows and deadlines.

According to HR specialists, replacing an employee means spending around 20 percent of his or her annual salary. These are significant costs for a company, as the same study says one in five employees leave their job each year. Employee retention is essential, not just for keeping recruiting costs low, but also for growing your company in the long run.

You Can Boost Your Company’s Value

It’s been stated that work-life balance policies have a positive impact on firm profits. In fact, many companies that had announced initiatives in this field registered higher stock prices.

This comes because of how perception over company’s value changes. The impact of flexible policies on productivity makes the company more appealing to investors.

This has effects on small businesses, too. When a small company incorporates flexible policies, it becomes more credible among business partners and possible clients.

A Flexible Schedule is A Crucial Consideration for Employers

Business owners and managers need to create a culture of flexibility and open-mindedness. This way, their employees will become more efficient, more productive, and more creative. You might even consider going further into just changing their schedules. By implementing schedule flexibility inside your company, you’ll get significant benefits:

You increase productivity through happier and healthier employees
You reduce turnover rates and cut costs with recruiting and hiring
You motivate your employees to engage with the company
You reduce absenteeism and burnout.
You grow your company and increase its value

Why Mental Health Is So Important for Success of a Business

February 26, 2018 by SusanRanford

It is estimated that one out of every five American adults experience some form of mental illness in a given year. So, this means that at any given point, it is likely that close to 20% of the workforce experiences some form of mental illness. With such a large number of people who have a mental illness in the workforce, it is important for businesses to have the resources and accommodations to efficiently respond to the needs of their employees.

Contrary to popular beliefs, people who have mental illnesses often get better with improved treatments and services. Additionally, many people who have mental illnesses can and do work effectively and with the proper workplace accommodations.

Impacts of Mental Health on Businesses

It is approximated that mental illness annually costs employers upwards to $100 billion in indirect costs. Specifically, employees with depression cost employers close to $44 billion per year in lost productive time. In fact, one study showed that depression and stress were more strongly linked to higher medical expenditures than smoking and a lack of exercise. More days of work loss and work impairment are due to mental illnesses than to other chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and arthritis.

Highlights from the Workplace Stress and Anxiety Disorders Survey show that on the job, employees self-reported that stress and anxiety most often impacted their:

workplace performance by 56 percent
relationship with coworkers and peers by 51 percent
quality of work by 50 percent
relationships with superiors by 43 percent

More alarming is that employees often feared repercussions as:

34 percent of employees had fears that their boss would interpret it as a lack of interest or unwillingness to do the activity
31 percent of employees had fears of being labelled as ‘weak’
22 percent of employees had fears that it would affect promotion opportunities
22 percent of employees had fears that their discussions about mental health would go in their file
20 percent of employees had fears of being laughed at or not being taken seriously

Furthermore, mental health diagnoses are the fastest growing sector of short-term disability claims. These claims account for up to 30 percent or more of the disability burden for employers and are growing by 10 percent annually. Difficulties in securing health care benefits can result in employees having more difficulties in returning to work. Because anxiety and depression are just as important as one’s physical health, they are covered by Social Security Disability which can help keep employees on board.

Additionally, employers should be cognizant of stresses which might impact the mental health of their employees. It was identified that 53 percent of employees reported that their work responsibilities triggered symptoms of their disorder–specifically meeting deadlines and dealing with problems. 46 percent of employees stated that interpersonal relationships triggered symptoms, 37 percent of employees stated that changes in their work situation–such as leaving a job, starting a new job, and getting fired– triggered symptoms and 35 percent of employees stated that staff management triggered symptoms of their mental health disorder.

From a legal standpoint, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects individuals with mental health disorders from workplace discrimination. Qualified employees who have a prior record of mental health disorders and disabilities are also prohibited from workplace discrimination and termination under this act. This law applies to private employers with more than 15 employees and state and local government employers.

On a positive note, there is research that suggests that disability costs related to mental health can be substantially reduced when access to early intervention and treatment is available. Employers play a substantial role when it comes to the mental health of their employees so, through educational programs and events aimed towards mental health awareness, promotion of a work-life balance and time off, employers can help educate their employees and urge them to balance their lives to ensure that their job productivity remains high.

What Businesses Can Do

As stated above, employers can ensure that they practice efficient employee management by providing accommodations to employees to help them manage their mental health and keep up their morale. Here are some tips for employers to practice:

Educate yourself about mental illnesses and make yourself approachable so that employees feel comfortable about disclosing information
Set the tone for mental health inclusivity by sharing information, awareness events, and other opportunities which highlight mental health
Implement an effective Employee Assistance Program, Disability Employee Resource Group, or other form of support to help workers who have mental health illnesses
Inform the workplace about mental health to reduce potential harassment and bullying
Build trust with employees and make the work climate enjoyable to keep up morale and employee satisfaction
Promote a work-life balance to reduce overworking employees