Mental health in the workplace: Don't forget home, hybrid and remote workers

The theme of this year's World Mental Health Day is: 'It is time to prioritize mental health in the workplace'. However, post pandemic, the workplace has changed. The rise in home, hybrid and remote working creates additional layers of complexity for employers seeking to safeguard the mental health of their staff.

A recent study by the UK Health Security Agency and King’s College London (which considered 1930 academic papers on home working) found that home workers are less likely to take time off sick, tend to work longer hours and to work evenings and weekends.  This blurring of home and work life can cause stress, anxiety and other mental health issues.

So, what should employers do this World Mental Health Day?

Update contracts and policies

The law on working time, rest breaks and annual leave applies to home, hybrid and remote workers as it does to office workers.  The Working Time Regulations lay down maximum weekly working hours and minimum rest breaks.  A worker can opt out of the 48-hour limit on average weekly working time, but they cannot opt out of rest break entitlements.

Given the difficulties of overseeing whether home and other agile workers take their breaks, contracts of employment and/or policies should make it clear that the individual is responsible for taking reasonable care of their own health and safety at work, including regulating their own working time, taking breaks and using annual leave.  

Take practical measures to protect mental health

There are a myriad of options, but some examples that are particularly helpful to home, hybrid and agile workers include the following:

• Keep in regular contact, both as a team and one to one: This is simple, but invaluable to understand individuals' workloads and demands, as well as their stress levels.  Talk openly with them about the possibility of them becoming stressed or mentally unwell.
• Complete stress risk assessments:  Templates are available from the Health and Safety Executive and can help to identify potential problems and solutions. 
• Assess training and mentoring needs:  In particular, new joiners or junior staff might lack confidence and work longer hours to seek to 'cover' a lack of training.  Employers should be proactive to provide appropriate supervision and mentoring, e.g. scheduling weekly catch ups. 
• Be inclusive:  Home working can be isolating, so employers should ensure that individuals are kept updated and that all team meetings are accessible to them.  Home, hybrid and agile workers should be invited to team events in the usual way.  
• Promote healthy habits: Depending on the employer, it might be helpful to have (for example) clear start and finish times; to encourage workers to switch off their work equipment at the end of the working day; to suggest workers take their rest breaks away from their screens; and / or to include sign-offs on out of hours emails to explain that a response is not expected. Managers should also be encouraged to support these measures by modelling healthy working practices themselves and respecting time that their colleagues have designated as breaks or holiday.

Identify those who can help 

Employers should ensure that staff are aware of the measures they are taking to manage mental health at work – and where staff can seek help if they need it, for example, Employee Assistance Programmes, mental health champions and first aiders, as well as online resources. Managers should know how best to direct an employee who discloses that their mental health is being affected by sensitive issues such as menopause,  family illness or domestic abuse.

Identify warning signs

Individuals are often reluctant to admit they are suffering from mental health issues.  Managers need to be trained to recognise the signs of stress (which might include taking time off, starting work later, being twitchy or nervous, having mood swings, being withdrawn, losing motivation, and increased emotional reactions).  There are similar signs for stress in teams (which include arguments, higher staff turnover, more reports of stress, more sickness absence, decreased performance, and more complaints).  

Act promptly

Whether at individual or team level issues that cause a build up of stress or mental illness should be tackled as soon as they are identified. Delay, which might simply arise from lack of confidence about how to offer help and support, could make the problem worse. As with all complex management issues, training and preparedness are key.