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The Mental Health at Work Commitment

Standard 5

Provide mental health tools and support

This standard has three parts:

1. Raise awareness of the resources and tools available, including Mental Health at Work (this site!).

2. Ensure provision of tailored in-house mental health support and signposting to clinical help, including but not limited to digital support, occupational health, employee assistance programmes, the NHS.

3. Provide targeted support around key contributors of poor mental health, e.g. financial wellbeing.

One of the easiest ways to support employees is to make sure people are aware of the help, tools and services available to them. But it’s not just about signposting; actively promoting the use of wellbeing tools, mental health support and local and national services is a way of creating a culture in which these things are OK to talk about. Tools like wellness action plans can also be useful in making sure those conversations happen regularly between managers and line reports.

As well as these, there’s a role for workplaces to play in providing specific services and encouraging their uptake. Employee assistance programmes provide confidential support for employees on a range of issues both workplace and personal, and can cost as little as £100-£200 per year. Choosing the right occupational health service can ensure that staff are properly supported to be in work, including during or after periods of unwellness. And there are certain factors that we know can have an effect on mental health, ranging from financial wellbeing and caring responsibilities, to disability or physical health, to shift working and lone working, to LGBTQI+, minority ethnic, older and younger workers. It’s worth paying particular attention to these.

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It's partly about self-care and self-development: giving people the tools to make a difference to themselves. But as an employer or a manager, you can't just put stuff out there; you need to help people engage with it. Jan Golding

Jan Golding
Founder and CEO,
Roots HR

Roots HR

The Mental Health at Work Commitment is a set of actions, organised into six standards, that any organisation can follow to improve and support the mental health of their people.