Mental health includes emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. It’s important that employers take employee’s mental health problem seriously and with the same care as a physical illness.
Acas have issued new guidance for employers and employees for handling reasonable adjustments for mental health at work.
The law (Equality Act 2010) says that employers must make reasonable adjustments for:
workers
contractors and self-employed people hired to personally do the work
job applicants
Employers must make reasonable adjustments when:
they know, or could reasonably be expected to know, someone is disabled
a disabled staff member or job applicant asks for adjustments
someone who’s disabled is having difficulty with any part of their job
someone’s absence record, sickness record or delay in returning to work is because of, or linked to, their disability
Employers should try to make reasonable adjustments even if the issue is not a disability. Often, simple changes to a person’s working arrangements or responsibilities could be enough to help them stay in work and work well.
The guidance covers:
What reasonable adjustments for mental health are
Examples of reasonable adjustments for mental health
Requesting reasonable adjustments for mental health
Responding to reasonable adjustments for mental health requests
Managing employees with reasonable adjustments for mental health
The 10th of October 2022 is World Mental Health Day, with the ultimate aim to make mental health and well-being for all a global priority. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of prioritising employee mental health and wellbeing and there are many business benefits to making mental health matter at work. A national survey of employees found that almost half would look to move jobs if their employer didn’t provide enough support in relation to their mental health. Mental ill health costs UK employers approximately £56 billion each year through absenteeism, staff turnover & presenteeism. And we have all heard and seen data that demonstrates that happy & healthy employees are more productive and committed within their roles. In an ideal world, each organisation will have a comprehensive employee mental health & wellbeing strategy, but if you don’t then there are many ways to still positivity impact in this area.
Simple ways that employers can support employee mental health in the workplace can be:
Stay connected to your people. Employees are more likely to open up about issues they are facing if they feel they have a close relationship with their manager.
Promote healthy living at work. Take employees for a meeting outside, deliver good food and drinks to meetings, make sure regular breaks are being taken by all.
Encourage openness around mental health.
Train managers to support the mental health and wellbeing of their teams.
Create a Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy.
Make sure that mental health illness is regarded by all as equal to physical illness in the workplace.
This is a question frequently asked by employees whenever the temperature rises in the UK and the answer is yes AND no.
There is currently no law for maximum working temperatures or when it’s too hot to work (although there is a minimum working temperature of 16°c in offices) as some environments such as kitchens and glass works will typically operate at high temperatures. As the extreme weather we are currently experiencing is likely to become more common in the future, some unions & MPs are calling for a legal maximum workplace temperature.
However, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does state that employers must apply appropriate controls depending on the nature of the workplace so that employees can work safely and temperatures must be reasonable inside buildings. You should also ensure your risk assessments are up to date and include workplace temperatures with reasonable actions that have been taken to mitigate highs and lows.
After all, hot & bothered employees are unlikely to be productive and may struggle to stay focused so it makes sense to ensure that they are as comfortable as they can be at work.
Some quick and easy ways you can keep your people cool today:
2nd – 8th December 2021 is National Grief Awareness Week . The loss of somebody close can have devastating emotional, physical and practical effects, which can significantly affect an employee’s attendance and performance at work. Bereavement is a natural process that most employees will experience at some time during their working lives, so supporting a bereaved employee is something that HR and line managers need to be prepared for. It can also be challenging for colleagues and managers to know how to support grieving employees as everyone experiences grief in their own way.
Although each bereaved employee will require individual support, the Kubler-Ross grief cycle is a good starting point for understanding some of the most commonly observed stages of responding to grief. Some employees might only undergo some stages rather than all five and the stages are not linear and be revisited at any time.
Important points to take into consideration:
Have immediate communication with the employee
But keep all conversations short and leave detailed discussions until a later date.
Understand the employee’s entitlements to time off for bereavement
Including statutory rights to time off under Time off for Dependants & Parental Bereavement Leave. Be aware if your company offers paid leave under an enhanced policy and communicate this clearly to the employee, at an early stage, what they are entitled at least in the short term, so that they are not worrying about these things and understand where they stand
Inform them of external support services
If you offer external support services through an employee assistance programme or group insurance, ensure that they are aware of this
Respect their privacy
The employee may have a preference regarding what is communicated to their colleagues and clients. They may not yet have given this any thought, so it can be helpful if you ask. Some employees may not want colleagues to mention the death to them, while others may feel that it helps to talk about it. Also, how they’d like to be in contact while they’re off, for example by phone or email, and how often
Be Flexible
Ask them what they want to do, they may need routine to begin with to be able to have some stability. Or they may want to change part of their role or workload or have a phased return. Bereavement can have a long-lasting impact and the employee may need ongoing flexibility and support.
Consider a compassionate leave and/or bereavement leave policy if you do not already have one
A policy will set out how your business supports bereaved staff. You can also use this policy to support employees bereaved during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
From 1st January 2021, a new points-based immigration system will replace free movement for hiring people from the EU.
Employers will need to be a licensed sponsor to hire eligible people from outside the UK.
Anyone you recruit from outside the UK for the Skilled Worker route will need to demonstrate that:
They have a job offer from a Home Office licensed sponsor
They speak English at the required level
The job offer is at the required skill level of RQF3 or above (equivalent to A level)
They’ll be paid at least £25,600 or the ‘going rate’ for the job offer, whichever is higher (can be pro rata)
(There are some exceptions to these rules)
What you need to do now…
if you wish to employ skilled workers from outside the UK then you should apply for a license as soon as possible as although most applications are dealt with in 8 weeks, some can take longer and UK Visas and Immigration may need to visit your business. You can apply online, the fees are £536 for small businesses and £1,476 for medium or large businesses.
On 29 May 2020, the Chancellor announced changes to the Scheme.
Existing scheme closure and ‘flexible furlough’
The old Scheme will close to new entrants on 30 June.
From this point onwards, employers will only be able to furlough employees that they have furloughed for a full three week period prior to 30 June.
Employers who want to place new employees on furlough must do so by 10 June so the minimum 3 week period required can be achieved.
From 1 July, flexible furlough can be used.
For example, an employee who works 5 days a week can be brought back to work for 2 days a week. The employer will pay wages for those 2 days as normal. The Scheme will “continue to cover” the employee for the other 3 working days.
There will be no change to the level of financial assistance provided by the scheme during June and July.
From the start of August, employers will begin to contribute to furloughed employees’ wage costs on a phased basis.
Understand there are many different forms of veganism but, fundamentally, it represents a commitment to maintaining a diet and lifestyle that is free from the use of animal-based products.
Create a workplace policy, or insert a specific clause into an existing policy, which outlines a commitment to creating a professional environment that protects vegans from discrimination at work.
Amend existing training materials to highlight the risk of discrimination against vegan employees and include this training as part of company inductions.
Warn staff about the dangers of workplace banter and ‘jokey comments’ that may be offensive to vegans.
Provide vegan alternatives in canteens and business lunches (if applicable).
Provide vegan alternatives during workplace social events, such as Christmas Parties or ‘away days’.
Consider alternatives to a requirement for employees to wear clothes derived from animal products, such as uniforms.
Where possible, avoid vegan employees having to come into contact with a client, or situation, that could potentially prove offensive for them.
Encourage employees to report any and all issues through the use of a pre-existing grievance procedure.
Respond to all complaints in a timely and professional manner.
Generally speaking, there is no legal obligation on an employer to provide a reference. However it is relatively unusual for employers to refuse and an employer may be obliged to provide one if it has contracted to do so, or if the employee is performing controlled functions in the financial services industry.
Even where there is no obligation to provide a reference, an employer cannot refuse to give one for discriminatory reasons, or in order to punish an employee for having previously alleged discrimination or blown the whistle.
If an employer chooses to give a reference, it owes a duty to take care in doing so, which means providing one which is in substance true, accurate and fair. It can also be sued for defamation or malicious falsehood in respect of damaging comments which it knew, or should have known, were untrue.
KEY POINTS
An employer is under no obligation to obtain a reference for a potential new employee, but it is common to seek at least one reference and to make any job offer conditional on a satisfactory reference.
An employer may be required to provide a reference if it has entered into a contractual obligation to do so, whether expressly or by implication, or if the employee is performing controlled functions in the financial services industry.
An employer cannot refuse to give a reference for discriminatory reasons, or in order to punish an employee for having previously asserted discrimination, or blown the whistle.
If an employer provides a reference it owes a duty of care to both the former employee and the prospective employer and is under an obligation to provide a reference which is in substance true, accurate and fair.
Employees should not give personal references on company letterhead.
Employers can also be sued for defamation or malicious falsehood in relation to any unfavourable statements which are untrue, if the person giving the reference either knew it was untrue or was recklessly indifferent as to whether it was true.
It is more and more common for employers to have a policy only to provide a bare references, giving dates of employment, position held and sometimes salary.
Provision of a reference will generally involve the disclosure of personal data for Data Protection Act 2018 purposes.
