Supporting Employee Mental Health Issues

Workplaces are not immune from increases in anxiety and mental health issues that can affect employees’ productivity and physical health. Devoting attention, resources, and interventions to addressing mental health issues in the workplace is no longer something your K-12 school, college, or university can ignore or expect employees to deal with on their own. 

Take proactive steps to understand employee mental health issues and address them when appropriate. Pretending these issues do not exist can ultimately lead to claims of discrimination, failure to accommodate, or wrongful termination. 

Create a Culture of Caring 

Embedding a healthy mindset and culture of caring for employees is the first step in helping to create a workplace supportive of employee mental health. Create a statement outlining your institution’s mental health philosophy and explicitly encourage your workforce to prioritize mental health. Consider how these actions fit within your overall employee well-being strategy. Some institutions may survey employees about their workplace limitations and stress. 

In addition, take steps to destigmatize mental health concerns. Leaders should be open with staff about their own concerns with stress and work/life balance. Leaders also should encourage employees to end the workday at a reasonable hour and attend to their own physical and mental health, as well as promote stress reduction by setting an example. 

Your institution also may want to mirror a student mental health awareness campaign targeted to employees. 

Training 

It is important to train human resources personnel and managers in: 

• Responding to disclosures of mental health issues
• Helping employees find resources
• Addressing performance problems stemming from employees’ mental health-related issues 

There are many options for training managers to identify warning signs of employees’ mental health issues, but some signs include: 

• Changes in appearance, such as becoming increasingly unkempt
• Becoming easily frustrated and short-tempered with coworkers
• Decrease in productivity or noticeable changes in work performance
• Avoiding social events or casual interactions with colleagues 

Training should address identifying these and other troubling signs as well as how to offer help. Other key training components include: 

• What to do with health information employees share
• Confidentiality of medical information and accommodation requests
• When and how to report concerns or observed problems to your Human Resources department 

Training also should include information on avoiding stereotyping and retaliation. 

Consider additional training on how to supervise in a trauma-informed way. Some institutions have incorporated this thinking into day-to-day supervision and interactions. 

Evaluate Policies and Procedures 

Review your nondiscrimination, anti-retaliation, and medical leave policies to ensure they do not exclude employees who disclose a mental health condition, have a mental health condition that may qualify as a disability, or are regarded as having an impairment (as applicable under federal, state, or local law). Your policies should align across absenteeism, your code of conduct, and workplace violence.  

Comprehensively reviewing these policies will ensure you are not treating employees with mental health conditions differently from other employees, including approving Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) — or state or local covered leave — requests when qualified. Consider whether your short- and long-term disability policies need updates. 

Be Prepared for Accommodations 

An employee’s mental health condition or diagnosis may qualify as a disability under state or federal law. Educate employees on your policies and the procedure for requesting an accommodation. If the employee is a qualified individual with a disability, your institution has a duty to engage in an interactive process to find a reasonable accommodation for the disability. 

Mental health-related accommodations may look different than accommodations for a physical disability, and you should prepare to address these differences. Examples of accommodations include: 

• Time off for therapy appointments
• Flexible start and end times
• Telework when appropriate
• Job coaching
• Supervisors also should understand that certain disclosures by an employee (such as, “I need to attend weekly therapy.”) may qualify as a request for accommodation. They should avoid asking additional medical questions, and should follow your procedure for documenting requests and involving Human Resources.

More From UE 

Checklist: Workplace Anti-Discrimination Policies and Response 

Checklist: Assessing Your Employee Performance Evaluation System 

Legal Literacy for Supervisors 

Guide to Preventing Retaliation on Campus 

Avoiding Supervisory Pitfalls 

Additional Resources 

U.S. Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being 

HR Future Magazine: Healthy Boundaries and Psychological Safety in the Workplace 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace