Today, workplace mental health is on everyone’s mind. Research and data-driven evidence have confirmed the relationship between mental health and our workplaces. Employees should be able to work to their potential without a negative impact on their mental health, and employers are obligated to ensure the workplace is not detrimental to wellness. When we meet with leaders to talk about mental health in the workplace, we hear the same questions. People want to clarify their responsibilities to employees and learn how to provide meaningful help.

It’s easiest to start with what leaders are not responsible for regarding employee mental health.

Leaders

• Do not diagnose or recommend treatment,
• Do not act as a confidante, and
• Do not have to be the only form of support for an employee.

Knowing this takes some pressure off leaders who worry about the boundaries of their roles. As a leader, you may not be responsible for these things, but you do have specific obligations to support employees and their mental health in the workplace. Your role is to focus on a culture of prevention and appropriate action in response to concerns. We’ve put together three steps that every leader can take.

1. Lead by example

One of the most powerful steps you can take to improve the impact of mental health on the workplace is to lead by example. This means taking the time to understand your mental health status, connecting with the right health professionals, and implementing recommended changes.

Another way to lead by example is to learn how to communicate respectfully about things like health and illness. The benefits of this are twofold. First, others will pick up on how you communicate and start to incorporate similar strategies into their communications. Second, respectful communication makes it easier for employees to feel safe to have important conversations with you about how they are doing.

2. Learn about the mental health continuum

You don’t have to know how to diagnose or treat mental health concerns, but you do need to learn about the mental health continuum so that you can assess how your employees are doing. The mental health continuum is comprised of five zones that range from in crisis to excelling.

Continuum Self Check | The Working Mind

Ideally, leaders want team members to thrive and excel, but it isn’t realistic to assume they will always stay in those zones. By taking the time to identify each employee’s baseline zone, it becomes easier to recognize when they are struggling and offer support quickly. In the absence of this tool, employees are more likely to slip into the struggling or crisis zones. This step is where the magic happens; once you understand the continuum and how to use it, you can begin to create a better workplace for all employees.

3. Ensure resources are available

Leaders must know what resources are available[SB1]  to employees and how they can be accessed. If they don’t, employees are less likely to seek additional support and more likely to continue struggling. Leaders should make this information available in a variety of ways. This can be done verbally, via a shared drive, in departmental newsletters or emails, and posted on the walls in common areas. Reaching out to the Human Resources department and other leaders is a great way to get this information.

The role of the leader in supporting employee mental health is essential. If you feel overwhelmed or unsure about how to fill this role successfully, you are not alone. We have delivered specialized training to leaders like you and helped them clarify their role in workplace mental health, gain skills to understand the mental health continuum, and start to use the right approach to create a workplace where employees thrive.

Contact us to learn more!

 [SB1]Link this to our mental health resources document.

Don’t let gossip wash investigation efforts down the drain

A positive workplace culture thrives on good communication, collaboration, and a shared purpose.  Unfortunately, this can be easily disrupted by harassment, bullying, and discrimination.  Many organizations don’t know how to deal with these types of behaviours and find it easier to ignore them.  Over time, this can erode a positive workplace culture and replace it with something much more toxic.  Just because management chooses to overlook something doesn’t mean that other employees will do the same.  In the face of inaction, many employees will take it upon themselves to be judge and jury.  We refer to this as “trial by water cooler”.  

A Jury of Peers

Trial by water cooler happens when allegations of undesirable behaviour and actions become a main topic of conversation among employees.  It is usually based on half-truths and hearsay but can lead to long-term damage to a peer’s reputation and be significantly disruptive to both workplace culture and productivity.  Once the trial has started, it is difficult to stop.  The costs to an organization can be significant.  This type of workplace gossip decreases morale and employee engagement, causes irreparable harm to someone’s professional reputation, and negatively affects recruitment and retention efforts. The good news is that trial by water cooler can be prevented.

Gather the Evidence

The best thing organizations can do to prevent trial by water cooler is to have workplace investigation policies and procedures in place.  An investigation is typically initiated in response to a complaint regarding inappropriate workplace behaviour.  Examples include harassment of any kind, discrimination, or any other significant misconduct that is contrary to the expectations outlined in the organization’s policies and procedures.  The ultimate goal of a workplace investigation is to use objective evidence to reach an impartial conclusion.  

The workplace investigation policy should outline the criteria for initiating and conducting an investigation.  The procedures should include:

• Reporting and escalation procedures, 
• A communication plan for all involved parties, 
• Impartial review and investigation procedures, and
• A confidentiality agreement.

It is easier to conduct a thorough, unbiased, and timely investigation when policies and procedures are understood and followed. 

Investigation Options 

Organizations have two options for handling workplace investigations.  They can do so internally or they can outsource it to an impartial third-party provider.  

When handled internally, investigations are led by the Human Resources department and include the other involved parties.  Internal human resources professionals who handle investigations should have specific education and experience to ensure the process is impartial and robust enough to stand up to legal scrutiny.  This is especially true in cases that involve extremely serious allegations, senior staff members, or classified information.  

For organizations that want it done right and done well, outsourcing to a third-party can be an excellent option.  At AccessHR, we have highly qualified investigators that can expertly handle this for you.  Our investigators will:

• Explain the process to the involved parties,
• Review confidentiality requirements with the involved parties,
• Conduct Interviews with the involved parties and witnesses,
• Review all relevant and available documentation, and
• Compile their findings and conclusions in a written report that is provided to the designated contact within the organization.

Many organizations prefer this method because third-party providers are impartial.  Internal investigations are often affected by biases that cause the investigation to be conducted through a lens of “finding facts to support the allegation” as opposed to the impartial collection and compilation of objective information.  

At AccessHR, we have several tools related to workplace investigations that can be highly beneficial to your organization.  We can help you write the policies and procedures needed to form a strong and fair process.  If you have internal Human Resources employees interested in conducting workplace investigations, we can provide them with training and tools.  Get in touch with us to learn more! 

HR Professionals, we need to talk.  There is a look that I recognize on the faces of my HR colleagues when I broach the topic of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). The look that says, “I’m not going to be the one to go there.”  I know this look because I have worn this look myself. Today, more than ever we need to decide where we stand on this topic, and ideally, end up on the right side of history.

What I have realized is that “the look” doesn’t come from a lack of recognition of the importance of this unwieldy topic. It comes from the Fear of Getting it Wrong. Instead of getting it wrong, we continue to rely on people who have experienced impacts of lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion to teach us the lessons, to share their expertise, to be the voice instead of being vulnerable, standing up as advocates and allies and doing the work ourselves!

I understand where the fear comes from, I feel it too! Workplace implications of messing this up can impact everything from culture to turnover, to harassment and discrimination complaints, to legal liability.  Any one of those impacts is enough to keep an HR person up at night!  Additionally, the immense pressure, typically placed on HR, to justify DEIB efforts with ROI can be frustrating and debilitating.

However, the organizational and societal impacts of NOT understanding DEIB, of NOT trying to address them, of NOT owning our discomfort and lack of understanding, of NOT applying the metrics and creating the business case, can be significantly more consequential. 

We need to talk and learn about DEIB topics and issues so that we can figure them out together.  We need to risk getting it wrong so that we can get it right. We can learn from people with both academic and lived experience to guide and propel our learning but that can’t be our only source.  As HR professionals we need to get comfortable with acknowledging the gaps in our understanding and learning, and then learn enough about DEIB to close those gaps.  We need to acknowledge that others experience the world differently. We need to get more comfortable with saying “I’m sorry that I didn’t understand that, that I made assumptions, and that even though I had the best intention, I got it wrong.  I will continue to learn, and I will do better next time.”

Join AccessHR on our learning journey as we expand our DEIB portfolio and bring new options to our clients.  We are going there. We are going to ask the questions, and do the research, and consult the experts.  And we are going to get it wrong.  Then we will pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and try again because we ALL have an obligation to figure this out together. 

We’ll be sharing our journey in a number of different ways.  Reach out to start the conversation. Follow us on LinkedIn or sign up for our newsletter.

Throughout my career in Human Resources, I have been at the table many times as policies were reviewed and re-written. I have worked with leaders who would rather write a policy or draft a new rule to deal with an issue rather than have a difficult conversation.  I get it.  If you struggle with tough conversations, then I have some great news for you; this skill can be learned!  It just takes coaching, commitment, and practice.

Difficult conversations are universally unpopular

We all have our reasons for avoiding difficult conversations.  Dealing with an issue may bring back memories of bad experiences, it may make us feel vulnerable, or we might be scared of saying the wrong thing.  To avoid discomfort, many leaders will indirectly address issues or infractions by implementing policies or re-writing existing ones. 

Better policies do not take the place of tough talks

Polices can be helpful because they let people know what the expectations are in the workplace.  They are readily available for review by all employees, and they can give us an anchor when initiating an investigation or conducting performance management reviews.  But. . . even the best policy manual has limits.  Our individual experiences and perceptions about the world influence how policies are interpreted and practised, especially if they are ambiguous.  Policies can also be discriminatory, even when that wasn’t the intention.  Strict adherence to policies creates an inflexible culture where employees are not treated as unique individuals.  By blindly enforcing policies without examining the circumstances around a specific incident, we miss opportunities to resolve an issue and improve the workplace culture. 

Put the “human” back into Human Resources

While documentation is important in any challenging situation, it can never be a replacement for a one-on-one conversation.  There are so many factors that affect a situation, and it is unlikely that your policy manual has accounted for every one of them.  Personal connection and meaningful collaboration are powerful tools for influencing immediate and future behaviour.  Conversations help gather important information that might not be available through any other channel and highlight issues or concerns that were not previously known.  Gaining understanding, clarifying expectations, and one-to-one connection can become a mighty trifecta for creating an environment where more employees are engaged and successful.

Having the conversation: tips to help you get started

First, please know that your hesitancy around difficult conversations is normal!  Here are a few tips to help you get started.

• Create a safe space where you and the other party feel comfortable.
• Prepare your talking points in writing to help you stay on track.
• Communicate kindly and respectfully.
• Maintain the other person’s dignity at all times. 
• Be honest and straightforward.  
• Offer a genuine invitation to participate in the conversation and be ready to listen.

Remember, it took time and training to get you to where you are today.  Just as you learned the skills to be great at your job, you can also build skill to have difficult conversations that are respectful and productive.  We’ve made it easy for you with our Conflict Management and Difficult Conversations course.  Our proprietary model goes beyond general tips and dives deep into things like assessing risk and more. Contact us to learn about this course offering!

Most organizations, for good reason, dread the idea of undergoing a workplace investigation. Ensuring the process is fair, sound and supportive can go a long way to reducing anxiety – and getting results.

When difficulties arise or a complaint is filed, the obligation of the employer is to restore the workplace as a healthy entity. They must ensure that the unacceptable situation, behaviours or working conditions stop and take actions or put measures in place to ensure that they will not recur.

A workplace investigation is really a fact-finding mission. Yes, it can become large and complex, and it’s always a formal process, but there’s a whole lot of runway before we get to that point. It could just be a couple of conversations. It’s important that investigation participants understand that we are  not going on a witch-hunt; we’re looking into some very specific allegations, with reparation and restoration as the preferred outcome.

A signature of AccessHR’s workplace investigations is its restorative approach, which aims for the least damage to be incurred while achieving the required outcome, exploring early on what those involved in the investigation are prepared to commit to to resolve the situation in a productive and healthy way.

Further supporting this restorative approach, AccessHR recognizes that investigations can be extremely damaging, to reputation and relationships, and the importance of providing mental health support to both respondent and complainant as part if the investigation, a service included in AccessHR’s investigative process.

Increased Frequency

Since 2018, when Occupational Health and Safety legislation increased the obligation to investigate, numbers of investigation requests have grown. Additionally, there has been a societal shift in which people are more aware of their rights in the workplace. Plus, more discussion around bullying, sexual harassment and power relationships has helped educate everyone about what shouldn’t be tolerated in the workplace.

To learn how AccessHR can help with your workplace investigation, contact us directly.

Offering respectful workplace training to employees and leaders can further their understanding about what’s accepted in the workplace – and what won’t be tolerated. We need to go beyond understanding and evoke behaviour change. Live respectful workplace training enables the conversations, questions and understanding that are critical for behaviour change.

So much about behaviour change is about unlearning. We need to unlearn the bias we absorbed as a child, we need to unlearn our experience being bullied in high school, we need to unlearn what has been portrayed in the media, on TV and in the news. We need to pause, and unlearn so that we can learn.

In the words of the late great Maya Angelou, civil rights activist, poet and award-winning author:

“Do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better.”

For many of us, going to work – either in person or remotely – can be a fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable part of life.

But for a significant percentage of employees, that’s not the case.

In fact, according to Statistics Canada, 19% of women and 13% of men have experienced harassment in the office in the past year. Of those numbers, only 4% of women and 1% of men were likely to report it.

Add to that a survey conducted by global online employment service Monster that found close to 90% of workers reported they’ve been bullied at their place of employment, and you know there’s a problem, especially if you want an effective workplace that allows employees to perform at their best.

Not surprisingly, workplaces that don’t operate on a foundation of respect experience reduced productivity and efficiencies, increased turnover and hiring costs, and the risk of a damaged reputation in the industry, among other disadvantages.

Practical, Relevant Workshops

AccessHR offers practical, honest, relevant and actionable respectful workplace training to employees, leaders and executives, during which they learn the critical skills necessary for a respectful workplace. We have the real conversations and look at how simply being human can lead to harassment, discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying. We’ll look at bias, unlearning, and continued learning as along with understanding both organizational and legislative obligations, what to do if you are harassed or accused of harassment, and how to contribute to a healthy and inclusive work environment.

For employers, it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the law. That’s because federal and provincial governments have introduced legislation around bullying in the workplace, with respectful workplaces being introduced under Occupational Health and Safety, not just Employment Standards or Human Rights.

Each respectful workplace training is customized for its audience, providing relatable industry scenarios, conversation and examples and including content that incorporates key in-house policies and guidelines.

To learn more about our respectful workplace training, as well as the other services we offer, contact us today.

Have you ever felt like something’s not right in your organization but can’t quite put your finger on it?  We know the feeling.

Most leaders can sense when something’s wrong in their organization – a lack of results, a difficult situation that needs to be addressed or a complex issue that continues to arise – but they may be unsure as to the exact nature of the problem or, more importantly, how to fix it.

Identifying key issues, broken processes and outmoded structures, or even just figuring out how to transform an effective workplace into a well-oiled machine, can be difficult when you’re living it day in and day out. That’s where an organization assessment comes in.

An organization assessment, or climate review, is a positive, proactive process designed to enhance and improve employee morale, workplace culture or productivity. Unlike engagement surveys, the results are focused, immediate and actionable. An organization assessment is designed specifically to meet an organization’s unique situational needs, regardless of size or industry.

Each assessment is customized, and no stone goes unturned. We focus on management style and how employees and leaders communicate. We explore trust levels and how well employees are aligned with the goals of the organization, as well as respectful workplace issues including discrimination, harassment and misogyny. Everything is on the table.

Each assessment includes comprehensive interviews with employees and leaders, and examines core areas of the business, providing a deeper look into the culture of the organization. Once the assessment is complete, specific and detailed recommendations to create improvement are presented.

To learn more about how AccessHR can help take a closer look at your organization, contact us directly.

I think we’re missing something when it comes to attracting employees to our organizations. As Human Resources professionals, we are constantly on the lookout for “top talent” but if we are not creating workplaces that are attractive to and supportive of neurodiverse individuals then we are eliminating 15% of the talent pool with one in eight people considered neurodiverse.

I came across an article by Kelly Grainer, Co-Founder of Perfectly Autistic, who stated: “The dictionary definition of neurodiversity is ‘the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioural traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population.’ ”

It has only been in the last century that science has helped us to better understand our brains and their uniqueness. You are likely familiar with neurodiversity in the form of dyslexia, attention deficit disorders, and autism spectrum disorder but there are myriad more ways an individual can be neurodiverse. As science deepens our knowledge about how the brain works, we also learn more about how we can improve workplaces to set neurodiverse people, and the organizations they work for, up for success.

Mental Health at Work

There are many direct benefits of having a neurodiverse workforce. These can include a fresh perspective, hyper focus, attention to detail, absorbing facts and retaining information, loyalty and honesty, creativity and innovation. These are all key traits you would want when building a great team at work and can provide you with a competitive advantage.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the most widely known form of neurodiversity. As the name implies, it occurs on a spectrum, which means two people with the same diagnosis can present, function and contribute, in completely different ways.

As more is learned about ASD, better assessment tools and intervention strategies are becoming readily available. Even though more people diagnosed with ASD are highly capable of entering the workforce, the statistics tell us that the neurodiverse population remains an untapped talent pool. As Human Resources experts, it is our job to identify ways we can attract and retain this valuable talent pool.

Below are a few ideas to help you get started. 

Update your Hiring Processes

The onus to adapt to or create an effective hiring experience is on the person doing the recruiting, not the candidate. 

1. Take time to get familiar with how people with ASD might prefer to interact and ensure that your own biases or expectations don’t eliminate them from the running;
2. Reformulate your interview questions so that they are more direct and less abstract; and
3. Ensure your postings emphasize that diverse candidates are welcome.

Review Your Day-to-Day Operations

Organizational culture is defined by day-to-day actions and priorities; it is much more than a mission statement or a set of values posted on the wall. There are several ways you can revise operations to ensure that the workplace culture is truly supportive of neurodiversity.

1. Draft and abide by an inclusive hiring statement that is highlighted on all company recruitment-related materials;
2. Ensure that all company-produced communication is written in plain language;
3. Ensure that employees know accommodations are available and who to talk to about it;
4. Keep background music low and in open workspaces consider using white noise to reduce background noise;
5. Replace flickering lights; and
6. Review your signage, policies and processes: do they mean what they say or could they be confusing to a person who interprets language literally?

Diverse talent can become a true asset to your organization, but you need to do the work to ensure the workplace provides supports and adjustments that enable success. 

One of the go-to responses we hear when we talk to clients about how they are supporting employee mental health is, “We have an EFAP (Employee and Family Assistance Program).” When pressed further, beyond some usage rates, few have a good handle on whether the service is useful, of high quality, or meeting their employees’ needs.

When effective, EFAPs can help employers reduce absenteeism, worker’s compensation claims, healthcare related costs, accidents, and complaints. They can address safety issues, improve productivity, boost engagement, and reduce the costs associated with employee turnover. When ineffective, they serve only as a convenient “out” for employers to signal that they have “done something” about this critically important issue.

An EFAP program can be an excellent resource for employees, but if employees aren’t using it – either because they don’t know how to access it or are skeptical about usefulness or confidentiality, it will be ineffective. To add to this challenge, due to privacy and confidentiality rules (and rightly so), we, as HR people and employers, don’t have the right to know who uses the service and for what purpose. This makes it very difficult to assess the true usage and quality of the service using only data from the service provider.

How can you be certain that you are subscribing to a service that is actually useful to your employees?

Here are a few ways you can audit the effectiveness of your EFAP program:

1. Use it! Human Resources professionals are humans, too! We have issues that arise in our lives that would benefit from some support, as do our family members. When that happens, pick up the phone or send an email to your EFAP providers to gather the support, resources, or direction you need. Call as an employee, not an HR person. This will give you first-hand experience with the service that you can measure objectively.
2. Ask questions about your EFAP in an anonymous employee survey. Make participation voluntary and ensure confidentiality. Some questions you can include are:

• Do you know how to contact the EFAP?
• Have you or a family member used the EFAP for any reason in the past 12 months?
• If you have used the EFAP, how satisfied were you with the level of support you or your family members received?
• How satisfied were you with the level of expertise of the individual supporting you?
• How satisfied were you with the responsiveness to your request or need?
• Based on your initial experience with the EFAP, would you call them again for support?
• Would you recommend the service to others?

By asking the questions in an anonymous survey and making them optional, you stand to gain honest and useful feedback about your EFAP that you can use to evaluate the effectiveness, value, and quality of the service you provide to employees.

If, based on your research, you learn that employees are not using the program, your response will depend on the “why”.

1. They are unaware of, or do not know how to access, the program. Determine how you can further educate them about the EFAP and its purpose. It might be that employees were told about the EFAP when they were hired and have since forgotten they have access to it
2. They are not making use of the service due to dissatisfaction with the quality of support. Evaluate additional EFAP options or entirely different alternatives. There are many unique, custom options available to employees and employers beyond a traditional EFAP service that may be better suited to the needs of your organization.

It is no longer enough to simply have a single mental health resource available; HR needs to take an active role in evaluating resources, educating employees about the resources available, and changing it up where required.