It can be difficult to know what to do when your employee comes to you suffering from anxiety. Helping them is a vital part of your role as an HR professional, but how do you offer the right support for mental health? We are here with the answers you need to guide you through this challenging time for you and your employees. Today, we will show you how to help an employee with anxiety, ensuring their well-being is cared for.
What causes anxiety at work?
Not all employees suffering from anxiety will have their anxiety caused by work, but when they do, it is important to address the causes to avoid it impacting anyone else. The causes of anxiety at work will vary depending on companies and roles, but many employers notice some overlap. Anxiety at work is commonly caused by the following:
Internal factors
These factors will relate to the specific employee, who could be struggling with general anxiety, imposter syndrome, or self-imposed pressure. These causes might have followed your employee from their home life or another role or they might be caused by their current role.
External factors
A heavy workload, poor work-life balance, unrealistic deadlines and workplace conflicts are common examples of external factors that can cause anxiety at work. These are most likely caused by the role itself, meaning it is easier for you to make adjustments to help your employees.
Societal pressures
Pressures from society can vary and could be caused by gender expectations, financial status, or expectations to achieve certain milestones. These can vary between different cultures, too, so make sure your diversity and inclusion training is up to scratch to better help employees.
How does anxiety impact employees?
Every employee suffering from anxiety will be impacted differently. Some might hide their symptoms well, leaving you unaware they are struggling at all, whereas others will seem very stressed at work, find it difficult to concentrate on their tasks, or might need regular reassurance their work is completed correctly.
Employees with anxiety might exhibit some of the following symptoms:
Reduced productivity
Increased absence
Increased staff turnover
Increased conflicts
Sleep issues
Self-fulfilling prophecy where they worry so much about work that they cannot work effectively
Avoiding events
Turning down opportunities
All of these are examples of how anxiety can impact your employees, leaving them feeling stressed and unable to function at work. This can seep into their personal lives, too, leaving them struggling to complete basic tasks like cleaning or cooking. You might notice a dip in productivity at work or a change in atmosphere, which can be detrimental to your company's performance. It is vital that you reach out and offer support to any of your employees who are suffering from anxiety disorders.
How to support employees with anxiety
How you support your employees with anxiety will vary, depending on your company, the role of the employee, and how they are suffering with their anxiety disorders. Thankfully, there are a few ways you can offer support, regardless of their role. We have outlined them before to help you provide the best support for your team.
Use clear, open, and regular communication
Regular face-to-face conversations can help support any employees with anxiety. You can use these conversations to check in with them and discuss any potentially anxiety-inducing subjects like work expectations, workload, or performance. These are a wonderful opportunity to see how you can better support your employees or for them to communicate with you how they are feeling.
You might want to consider alternatives to face-to-face conversations, too, like Zoom calls for remote staff or telephone calls for anyone who feels anxious about having these conversations face to face. The goal here is to support your employees and ensure they do not feel isolated or unsupported at this time.
Put them in control
A lack of control can often cause employee stress or anxiety, especially if your employees don't know what to expect every day or feel like they have no control over their work performance. There are several ways you can do this, including giving more control over their workload, when and where they work, and your expectations of them.
You might find that your employees well-being improves when they are allowed to focus on the amount of work they create rather than the time they spend in meetings or an office. With the increased control over their day, your employees can feel less anxious about attending work and the unknown day ahead of them.
Uncover and manage the causes of stress at work
Anxiety and workplace stress are closely linked, so if you can find and manage any work-related stress causes, you can help to improve your employee's anxiety. You should familiarise yourself with the common causes of stress at work and see if any apply to your employees.
You can also discuss with your employees any workplace anxiety or stress and what they think the cause of this is. This could help you uncover a widespread issue across your team or department, helping to alleviate stress for more of your employees. This could be something minor like last minute meeting time changes or an expectation to reply to emails outside of their working hours, but could cause high levels of stress to your employees.
When uncovering the cause of any stress at work, reassure your employees that you are here to help and support them rather than interrogating them about their working conditions. By supporting your employee and making changes to their working conditions, you can improve their mental health and offer support with their anxiety disorder.
Discuss any reasonable adjustments
Reasonable adjustments or changes to the workplace and practices can help your employee continue to work while they seek professional help for their anxiety. These reasonable adjustments will vary, depending on your business and the role of your employee. You should start with a discussion with your employees to see what reasonable adjustments they think would benefit them and whether they will also be suitable for the role.
Common workplace adjustments include a flexible work schedule, working at home, a reduced work volume, and increased support from supervisors or other staff members. You can also consider any training that could help with their role or if changes to their physical working environment would be feasible if working from home is not suitable.
Outside of your employee's specific adjustments, you should consider the company culture and whether it is compassionate enough to support your employee through this time. You might need to create some incentives or schemes that increase compassion across your company, which can also encourage other employees to come forward if they are suffering from anxiety.
In some cases, a phased return to work after a period of sickness can help employees with anxiety or job redeployment, where they are given a less stressful role, moved to another department, or temporarily deployed to another location can help with their anxiety. If your employee's anxiety is caused or worsened by other members of their team or a toxic culture, redeploying them while you address these issues is a good option. Your reasonable adjusmtnet should be agreed on by you and your employee to ensure it is the right move for them.
Learn more about your employees' anxiety and personal situation
The best way to support your employee is to know about any factors that could impact them and their mental health. Your employees will likely come from different backgrounds with different demands and commitments outside of work. You will also likely have different cultures to contend with, which can bring their own set of factors that impact mental health. By knowing more about your employees, their anxiety, and personal situations, you can better create anxitery reduction initavitve that help your workforce.
Speaking to your employees is invaluable here, as are surveys that can help you to better understand the mood and stresses of your team. By using information collected directly from your employees you can ensure the support you provide is fit for purpose. You might want to regularly speak to your employees too, ensuring you are providing suitable support as their needs change.
Look at your company's mental health benefits
Do you currently have a mental health benefits package in place? Adding one could help with your employees' mental health challenges and any other challenges other employees might face in the future. Creating a mental health benefits package not only supports your employees but shows them that you care about their mental well-being. This can boost morale and encourage other employees to open up about their mental health struggles. Doing so can also make you more attractive to potential employees when you hire for new roles, assuring them that their health is important to you.
Your mental health package might include referrals for free counselling sessions, online activities that employees can complete, additional leave for mental health issues, or access to private healthcare to speed up anxiety disorder diagnosis.
Adding a mental health package normalizes mental health challenges and reassures employees you are there to help them.
Supporting your employees with anxiety
Supporting employees with anxiety requires you to consider their anxiety symptoms, offer regular face-to-face interaction, and make reasonable adjustments where possible to reduce their anxiety in the workplace and help them access support they might need outside of work. Don't forget to refer them to mental health experts where needed and ensure that your company continues to make its employees well-being a priority.
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