Your how-to: Standardising a company-wide approach for mental health days off
Standardising a company-wide approach for mental health days off in your workplace is about implementing a uniform policy and procedure that recognises and accommodates the mental wellbeing of employees. It involves establishing a framework that explicitly allows employees to take time off work to care for their mental health, similar to physical sick days.
This policy aims to eradicate stigma, encourage open discussions about mental health, and promote a supportive work environment. It is part of a broader organisational strategy for prioritising emotional and psychological wellbeing.
Legally in Australia, there are no specific regulations around mental health days off. However, under the Fair Work Act 2009, employees are entitled to take personal/carer's leave (including sick leave) when they are unfit for work because of a personal illness or injury, which can encompass mental health issues.
These mental health days are thus encompassed within personal leave laws and, if not managed carefully, can court controversy or misuse. Standardising an approach mitigates these issues by spelling out clear parameters, reducing ambiguity, and ensuring fairness across the organisation. Implementing such a policy also potentially enhances productivity by fostering a healthier, happier, and more engaged workforce.
Step by step instructions
Consultation & Awareness: Begin by consulting with internal stakeholders such as employees, managers, HR professionals, health and safety representatives, and unions to gain insights and understand the scope of the issue. You may also wish to engage with mental health professionals or organisations. This will assist you in aligning the strategy with the specific needs and culture of your company.
Communication: Transparent communication is key. Ensure that everyone in your organisation understands the new policy, why it is being implemented, and how it works. You might consider using company-wide meetings, email updates, workshops, or information on your company's intranet.
Implement Support Systems: In addition to allowing mental health days, consider implementing other support systems, such as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), mindfulness programmes, mental health resources, or access to mental health professionals.
Foster a Positive Workplace Culture: Finally, encourage open dialogues about mental health and foster an organisational culture that's supportive and free of stigma. This can include promoting work-life balance, zero tolerance to harassment, and open-door communication policies.
Develop a Policy: After gaining insights from your consultations, develop a policy around mental health days off. It should clearly state what constitutes a mental health day, the number of days allowed, and the procedures for requesting and approving these days off. Ensure this policy aligns with the existing personal/carer's leave policy under the Fair Work Act 2009.
Train Management: Management plays a critical role in supporting employees' mental health. Provide training to help them recognise signs of mental health issues and respond appropriately while respecting the individual's privacy.
Monitor and Review: Once implemented, regularly monitor and review the policy to ensure it's effective and achieving its intended goals. You might need to adjust it based on feedback or changing needs of the organisation.
Reflect and Breathe: This step can be challenging, so it's important to take a moment to breathe and reflect. Pause to consider the progress made, the obstacles encountered, and the lessons learned. This reflection will not only help in gaining clarity but also in maintaining a balanced perspective, allowing for thoughtful and deliberate decision-making moving forward.
Use this template to implement
To ensure you can execute seamlessly, download the implementation template.
Pitfalls to avoid
It's essential to clearly define what constitutes a mental health day, when employees can take it, and the process for requesting it. Vague will confuse, frustrate and may lead to sporadic, un-tracked absences, potentially causing instability in your workforce.
If mental health days are allowed but employees don’t feel supported when they return to work, it may exacerbate their issues. Lack of follow-up mechanisms can foster feelings of isolation and discourage future use of mental health days.
Supervisors should be provided with training on how to handle mental health day requests empathetically and appropriately. If not, there could be mishandling of requests leading to demoralisation among employees or potential breach of their rights.
One of Australia's Privacy Principles dictates that businesses must keep employees' health information confidential. If employees feel their privacy might be violated when asking for a mental health day, they could be deterred from using this provision or might become disgruntled, damaging morale and trust.
If the policy is not applied to everyone equally, it can lead to resentment among the workforce and potentially legal issues. The Fair Work Act 2009 is Australia’s national workplace relations law and prohibits such unfair practices.
Keep track of the use and effectiveness of mental health days, and be open to modifications. If this is ignored, an ineffective policy could linger within your organisation, which could have long-term deleterious effects on overall employee well-being and productivity.