People living with mental health conditions have a right to participate in work fully and fairly. Three interventions known to support people with mental health conditions and help them gain, sustain and participate in work are:

• Reasonable accommodations to the capacities, needs and preferences of a worker with a mental health condition, insofar as is reasonably possible. This may include flexible working hours, extra time to complete tasks, modified assignments to reduce stress, time off for health appointments or regular supportive meetings with supervisors.

• Return-to-work programmes which include work-directed care (such as reasonable accommodations or phased re-entry to work) and ongoing clinical care to support workers in meaningfully returning to work after an absence associated with mental health conditions.
• Supported employment initiatives help people with severe mental health conditions get into paid work and maintain their performance of duties through vocational support.

Creating an enabling environment for change

In practice, this means strengthening:

• Leadership and commitment to mental health at work by integrating mental health into relevant policies.
• Investment of funds and resources for actions to improve mental health at work and making mental health and employment services available to lower-resourced areas of the organisation.
• Rights to participate in work by aligning employment laws and regulations with international human rights instruments and implementing non-discrimination policies at work.  
• Participation of workers in decision-making by holding meaningful and timely consultations with workers, their representatives and people with lived experience of mental health conditions.
• Evidence on psychosocial risks and effectiveness of interventions by ensuring that all guidance and action on mental health at work is based on the latest evidence.

Mitigating environments that pose challenges to mental health and ensuring people and organisations are operating in a healthy and productive way are collaborative tasks. We are all responsible for ensuring that we can support our fellow colleagues and employees to be productive and healthy individuals, whilst also taking personal responsibility for ourselves to ensure we are aware and honest about our own mental wellbeing and seeking support when needed.

Support your mental wellbeing now

For more information on Atrium HR Consulting’s Wellbeing support services, access your member portal or contact us here.