How your business can provide accessible mental health support

Investing in quality mental health support for your business involves spending time, money or both to ensure you provide the support services and resources that will most benefit your workforce. In some cases, specific mental health issues may require support in the form of workplace adjustments. You want to be confident that the investment yields the desired results, either by providing support to help your team manage mental health challenges or offering treatment.

Mental health support can help reduce stress, enabling your staff to perform at their best, lower sickness absence, and lessen the impact of presenteeism, where employees come to work but underperform due to poor mental health. Mental health support is a highly valued employee benefit, meaning including it as part of your employee benefits package can lead to increased productivity, employee engagement and retention. It can also help make you an employer of choice for job seekers. A recent survey suggests that poor mental health costs the UK economy £102 billion annually. Ultimately, good mental health support can boost business growth.

Your company can invest in various services to support mental health. Still, it's a good idea to ensure you have the right foundations in place before spending money on business health insurance or other specialist services. Creating a workplace culture that values and supports good mental health can help prevent mental health issues from developing. It also makes it more likely that staff will engage with support services when needed.

Here are a few ways to support mental health in the workplace.

Create a positive workplace culture

A positive working environment that values good mental well-being encourages employees to discuss mental health openly, whether they're experiencing mental health issues or have found a new way to boost their mental well-being. An office culture that supports mental health encompasses several key aspects, making it crucial to understand your workplace dynamics and their potential impact on mental well-being.

Encourage senior leaders and your management team to speak freely about their mental health challenges to normalise these discussions and reduce the stigma that is still sometimes associated with mental health issues. In turn, this approach encourages employees to talk to their supervisors about their mental health concerns. These could involve issues in their work or personal lives. For example, workplace stress can arise due to heavy workloads. Personal challenges such as bereavement or relationship issues can also affect an employee's ability to work productively. When managers are aware of these challenges, they can actively support employees by reducing workloads or offering other support.

A positive working environment can also enable staff to seek support from their peers. This could be informal, but you can also consider creating groups with a shared focus, such as neurodiversity in the workplace or challenges faced by working parents.

Provide management training

Management training can help leaders manage their mental health and provide support to their teams. Supervisory roles can bring their own mental health challenges, meaning specialist training can be a form of support in itself. Training can also help managers lead by example in various ways. These could include starting discussions around mental health topics or modelling positive habits that benefit mental health, such as taking a proper lunch break, engaging in physical activity or leaving work on time to relax at home.

Management mental health training can also teach supervisors to recognise the early signs of mental health conditions. Many mental health conditions exist, with a variety of signs and symptoms. While managers can't diagnose psychiatric illnesses, they can learn to identify the signs and encourage their colleagues to seek help from appropriate support services. A one-to-one chat can also help employees feel supported and motivate them to care for their own mental health.

If you have existing staff with suitable expertise and training, you can run in-house sessions. Alternatively, there are many third-party organisations providing access to mental health training, including mental health charity Mind, MHFA England and the Red Cross.

Schedule regular one-to-one conversations

Regular communication with team members helps your managers do their job effectively. You may already schedule short team meetings to assess progress on projects and identify any obstacles. Using the same approach with one-to-one conversations helps your team manage mental health and provide appropriate support when needed.

Check-ins should be face-to-face where possible, even if that's over Zoom or Teams for remote workers. Ensure staff understand the purpose of the conversation before you meet, as this can help reduce stress. While you might have specific topics you want to discuss, focus on listening to your employee, asking open-ended questions, and using active listening to ensure you understand their responses. You can ask employees whether they have anything on their mind or how they're feeling generally. If you've noticed any changes in their behaviour, ask whether they need any support. Create an action plan or offer support and information on services that may help, and follow up afterwards. Employees could struggle with mental health issues arising from their work or personal lives, or need help with stress management.

It may take time to build trust where staff feel comfortable sharing mental health issues, so consider introducing anonymous surveys to assess team morale and identify any issues affecting their mental health.

Help employees create a better work-life balance

A positive work-life balance allows employees to work effectively and spend time enjoying their lives outside the workplace. Long hours and heavy workloads can lead to poor mental health, including chronic stress that can eventually cause burnout. Supporting employees to create a work-life balance that suits them is a great way to help them manage stress and improve their mental health.

We've mentioned the importance of office culture, which plays a vital role in enabling staff to switch off and enjoy their free time. Encourage managers to lead by example and normalise taking lunch breaks, booking annual leave and going home on time. Offering a generous annual leave allowance demonstrates your commitment to employee well-being.

You can also offer support in the form of flexible working arrangements. These enable staff to design a work schedule that suits their circumstances, for example, if they have caring responsibilities or want to manage stress by having a slower start to the day. There are various types of flexible working you can use on a case-by-case basis according to staff requirements. You can set parameters, for example, by setting core hours, to ensure flexible working is a good fit with your business needs. Employees can also vary their work location by working from home on some days and in the office on others.

Review the workplace environment

The office environment can have a profound effect on mental health. On a practical level, if the office is noisy, it can affect concentration, particularly for staff engaged in detailed work. The layout of your workspace and whether it offers exposure to natural light and fresh air can all affect mental health and well-being. Use natural rather than artificial light where possible and ensure your office is well ventilated.

Workspace design can also encourage employees to step away from their desks for breaks or enable them to move to another area depending on the task they need to complete. Include quiet office spaces for focused work and meeting rooms where employees can go to collaborate with others. Equally, good quality break rooms can encourage informal conversation or allow employees to take a break without needing to interact with their colleagues.

When it comes to mental health support, everyone's needs and preferences differ. Their requirements will also shift depending on the mental health problems they experience. Employees with mental health conditions requiring medication or in-patient care will need to see a psychiatrist, while others will benefit from counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Depending on their lifestyle and preferences, staff may want face-to-face treatment or prefer that sessions take place by video or telephone call.

Offering accessible mental health support requires a varied approach to ensure you're providing access to treatment and expert advice that suits your employees' mental health needs and preferences.

Here are a few methods your business can use to offer mental health support and empower staff to care for their mental well-being.

Train a mental health first aider

Mental health first aiders (MHFAs) are existing employees trained to provide mental health support in the workplace. MHFAs are trained to help create a positive environment, where staff feel able to raise mental health concerns, build resilience and discuss mental well-being openly. MHFAs learn to identify the signs of mental health issues, work alongside managers and mental health professionals and intervene in crisis situations where needed. They learn about the importance of self-care for themselves and their colleagues and receive training to help them have conversations about challenging or sensitive topics. MHFAs can also act as a focal point for employees who are concerned about their mental health or that of a colleague.

There are various mental health first aid training providers offering different training options to suit your circumstances. Providers offer training in person, usually over two days, or shorter online sessions over a more extended period. The training provides practical skills, knowledge of legal requirements, including reasonable adjustments, and cultural differences, along with the ability to reflect on one's own mental health.

Accreditation lasts three years after training, and MHFAs can seek higher-level certification if needed. You can provide training to any employee, including managers, HR professionals or other staff. It's wise to choose someone whom all staff will feel able to approach for mental health support.

Provide an Employee Assistance Programme

Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) provide telephone support services and access to counselling for all employees. It's a confidential, third-party service that employees can contact for advice and guidance. EAPs provide access to mental health support by telephone, or 8-10 counselling or CBT sessions. An EAP typically offers legal and financial telephone helplines. While these don't provide legal representation or tailored financial advice, they can help employees understand their rights and signpost them towards appropriate professionals, support services or other resources.

While you might have a supportive workplace where employees can speak freely about their mental health, an EAP can offer an alternative for staff who need greater privacy. For example, they may be reluctant to discuss highly personal financial or legal issues with a colleague or manager if they believe it may affect their status or future career prospects. They may also experience difficulties with their line managers and want guidance from an impartial advisor to decide their next steps.

If you invest in business health insurance, most providers offer employee assistance programmes as an optional extra on your policy. You can also choose a standalone programme if you prefer.

Organise workplace wellness programmes and initiatives

Workplace wellness programmes and initiatives help employees care for their health and well-being in various ways. Mental and physical health are closely linked, meaning initiatives that focus on physical health can also have positive mental health benefits. Best practice is to organise an initiative with a single focus tied to a common health challenge associated with your work, or that you've identified as a cause for concern following analysis of sickness absence rates or other health data. For example, sedentary work carries certain health risks, and an initiative that encourages staff to increase their daily step count can reduce these risks. However, you can also use this initiative to promote good mental well-being by encouraging staff to walk outside in nature.

You can also find ways to encourage activities that benefit mental health and build these into the working day. Walking meetings are ideal for topics that don't involve confidential matters or require formal presentations. You can also run activity sessions at lunchtime, such as mindfulness and meditation, group walking or exercise classes. Alternatively, provide staff with information on local activities and classes so they can choose those that suit their interests.

Provide self-help resources

Mental health resources empower staff to engage in self-care and provide expert advice on mental health, so employees can choose methods that suit their needs and circumstances. You can use your company's intranet to provide information on sources of treatment and other resources, such as articles on stress management and common mental health conditions.

Include resources in various formats, such as articles, podcasts, videos, or mental health apps. Ensure you only share information from reliable sources. For example, the NHS's Every Mind Matters site has a wide variety of articles on mental health, along with information about self-care and where and when to access support services and treatment. Mental health charities like Mind and the Mental Health Foundation have libraries of articles on their websites. Consider employees' lives outside work when building your library. Staff with children or elderly relatives may benefit from information about mental health support for teenagers or ways to prevent cognitive decline.

You can also purchase a business subscription to meditation and mindfulness apps, such as Calm and Headspace, to support employees' mental health.

Finally, ask staff to contribute suggestions and recommendations for resources that reflect their needs.

Communicate benefits effectively

You'll likely have invested in mental health support because of the benefits it brings to your company and employees. However, your business won't see any of the advantages if your team members don't know what's available. It's a good idea to use various forms of communication to ensure employees understand what mental health support is available and where to access it.

Create a central well-being hub with resources and information on mental health, including details on the support services available to employees as part of their benefits. However, you should also provide regular reminders. These could take the form of training sessions on mental health topics, emails with health tips or posters on staff noticeboards where employees will see them frequently.

You can also include information on mental health resources in management training sessions or discussions with mental health first aiders. They can then provide employees with links to valuable resources during one-to-one conversations as needed.

Invest in employee health insurance

Business health insurance provides employees with quick access to private medical care for a range of physical and mental health conditions. It also offers other resources and support services that provide advice, guidance and information on preventative care. The treatments and services your policy offers depend on your chosen insurance company and the coverage you select. Business health insurance includes core coverage as standard, and you can add optional extras to provide more comprehensive coverage.

Business health insurance can provide some of the mental health support services we've mentioned, including employee assistance programmes, a library of self-help resources and support to design wellness programmes and initiatives. These services vary depending on the number of employees your company has, with some only being available to larger businesses with 250+ employees. Most insurers provide employee health assessments that can give you useful anonymised data on health trends.

Health insurance has some restrictions, with standard exclusions that vary between insurers. Pre-existing conditions that employees sought advice or treatment for before joining the policy are typically excluded, as are chronic conditions. It's a good idea to seek advice from a broker to understand the impact this could have on your ability to provide your team with effective mental health support.

As we've mentioned, the support your business health insurance can provide varies depending on the policy coverage you choose and your business size. Insurers offer policies tailored to suit the needs of companies from small businesses with less than ten employees, to larger corporations with more than 250 staff. You can typically add further support services as needed. A broker can help you source and compare quotes and provide tailored advice on the best coverage for your needs and budget.

We've already discussed EAPs, which are usually available as an optional extra, plus the support available to help you develop well-being initiatives via data gathered from employee health assessments.

Next, let's examine some of the treatments and services your business health insurance can provide. Your policy will include some of the following as part of its core coverage, while others are only available at an additional cost.

Counselling

A basic policy typically provides employees with between eight and ten counselling sessions per year. These can also include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), depending on clinical need. These sessions can help employees cope with life's ups and downs by providing a space to discuss temporary mental health issues with a professional. However, the limited number of treatment sessions is unlikely to be enough to provide adequate support to employees experiencing long-term mental health issues such as persistent depression or anxiety. Paying to extend your mental health coverage to include treatment with a consultant psychiatrist and more counselling or CBT sessions gives employees with persistent mental health conditions more treatment options. It's also worth remembering that while counsellors are trained mental health professionals, they can't prescribe medication for more serious mental health conditions.

The mental health landscape is changing, and some insurers now reserve the right to reclassify mental health conditions as chronic illnesses, meaning your policy will no longer provide coverage. It's worth checking this with your broker if this is likely to be a problem for your business or staff.

Access to psychiatric treatment

Some mental health problems respond well to counselling or informal support, while others require more formal medical treatment from a psychiatrist, psychologist or an interdisciplinary team. As we've mentioned, a basic health insurance policy typically includes counselling. However, it doesn't usually cover in-patient or out-patient treatment from other mental health professionals. Extending your policy coverage gives your team access to a broader range of treatments.

Most health insurance companies only provide access to treatment from a psychiatrist if you invest in extended coverage. There's typically a clear distinction between mental health support and treatment. Support typically takes the form of self-help resources or short-term treatment, with more formal or long-term treatment available only through more comprehensive policies. However, this isn't a hard and fast rule, and some insurers include in-patient and out-patient treatment in their core coverage, subject to policy limits.

Telephone helplines

Every insurer provides access to telephone helplines for every health insurance customer. Some are general helplines that are typically staffed by nurses trained to provide advice and guidance on numerous health issues. They can also advise on alternative support services or occasions when an employee may need a referral to speak to a specialist.

Some insurers have more specialist telephone helplines, including support with mental health issues. For example, Bupa's family mental healthline provides advice on issues affecting members and their children, along with self-help resources.

Health insurance also includes access to 24/7 virtual GP services. Employees can book a telephone appointment or an online video call at a time to suit them. GPs can offer advice, issue private prescriptions and provide a referral to a consultant psychiatrist. However, employees will only be able to access private out-patient treatment if your policy covers it.

Self-help resources

Prevention is often better than cure, so it's a good idea to provide your team with mental health awareness training and tools to help them care for their mental well-being. We've already recommended compiling a resource library so that staff can find relevant information when needed. Most insurers offer online articles and tools covering a range of topics to support good mental and physical health. You can use these as the basis of training sessions and provide links to the information as part of your follow-up process. If you wish, you can supplement these with other reliable resources, such as the NHS website or information from charities.

Most insurers have a discount scheme for members. Schemes vary, with some providing the same discounts to all members and others letting employees earn greater rewards by setting and achieving healthy lifestyle goals. Increased activity can improve mental and physical health, but schemes also offer targeted mental well-being benefits. As we've mentioned, mindfulness and meditation apps offer corporate subscriptions. Some also provide discounted subscriptions via health insurance, meaning you don't have to administer a separate subscription. It also allows employees to choose whether to subscribe and pay the discounted fee themselves.

Management training resources

Business health insurance can support you in providing training to your leadership team. Insurers' resource libraries include articles targeted at line managers to help them understand the signs of mental health difficulties and offer support. You can use these as part of your training programme.

Some insurers provide more comprehensive training programmes, including written materials, videos and online training sessions with face-to-face contact that lets managers ask questions. Training should include information on identifying potential issues, having sensitive conversations and creating an open culture that supports discussions about mental health.

An investment in employee health insurance can provide employees with a range of treatments, guidance and resources to support their mental health. At Globacare, we help our clients identify the best health insurance policies for their needs. Contact us for tailored advice.