How to Talk About Mental Health Issue at Work, A Guide for Employees

How Employees Can Discuss Mental Health Issues at Work? A Practical Guide

Mental Health Issues at Work

Mental health is as important as your overall health, especially when it comes to performance at the workplace. Our mental health is strongly correlated with our workplace performance. If you at any stage feel that your performance at work is somehow affected by your mental health, it is crucial to discuss this with your boss or manager without hesitation.

The fact is, we all go through a stage of our lives where our mental health is badly affected due to many things at the workplace. This means this is common to every human being. Still, the important thing is how to tackle this issue at the workplace, especially when we are extremely low in our performance at work due to our mental health problems. However, the question is how to talk about our mental health at work with our boss and manager. This is a very important question to answer. In this blog, we will cover this question, find the answers to it, and give you some strategies and tips that you can apply at the workplace to overcome this issue with confidence.

Let’s discuss the key points one by one.

 

1. When & Where Is Crucial to Know

When you are dealing with this issue at the workplace, you must know how and when to discuss it with your boss because, for you, it is a very private matter that you don’t want to discuss publicly in the presence of other colleagues and subordinates. So finding the right time and place to discuss this matter will be more helpful for you to resolve this matter efficiently, as you know very well that timing is always crucial in your professional life, just like in normal life.

For example, you can discuss this matter with your HR manager in a private capacity, or you can find a time with your boss somewhere outside in a coffee shop to have coffee with your boss and discuss this matter openly. So instead of discussing this at work, you can find a place where you feel more comfortable with your boss and discuss this matter openly without any hesitation.

If you discuss this matter during working hours when you and your boss are going through a stressful time where you have to complete your daily job task and your manager is busy with meetings, etc., it would be hard for both of you to discuss this issue comfortably because this matter is very sensitive and needs a lot of attention from both sides. If you find the option to discuss this matter in a comfort zone, like we already mentioned somewhere outside a coffee shop, then you have more time to get involved and discuss, allow plenty of time for your boss to understand the sensitivity of the matter, and come up with something that can be helpful for you to tickle this matter more effectively.

 

2. Prepare Meeting Minutes & Notes

Being professionals, we are all aware that when we plan a meeting and decide to have a meeting with our boss, we make short notes and prepare the meeting agenda and its expected outcome. It is not always easy to get a specific time for any private and brief discussion on a specific matter. If you are clear about what you expect and want from this conversation, then it will be easier to get an actual benefit from it.

For example, you should prepare notes in a way that makes the conversation smooth and fruitful. You can also mention your mental health problems and the possible reasons that you face at work in the notes that you prepare for the meeting with your boss or HR manager. By doing so, you allow your boss to know what is actually going on with you, and practical steps should be taken by your boss to address this issue that you are going through.

With this strategy, you will basically help your boss accommodate you accordingly because you know your situation better than your boss, and if you explain your situation more openly to your boss, then your boss will not just support you but also accommodate you according to your needs and expectations.

Additionally, give a practical example to your boss that you are facing at work regarding your mental health issues or any environmental issues at the workplace that cause this problem and how these issues affect your performance at work.

 

3. Use Clear & Direct Communication

When you are going through a mental health problem, you have to understand that it is not an ordinary issue that you are facing at the workplace. Instead of using indirect approaches to the issue, you have to directly address this issue with your boss that you are facing at your workplace. When you talk honestly and directly about the issue that you are facing, it will be easier for your boss to give you the support and solutions that actually work and need you to apply.

For example, you can explain to your boss your current working situation, which brings you tension and frustration and causes you a mental health issue. This approach will help you and your boss find a practical solution for you that would definitely work, e.g., a mental health issue due to long hours, an excessive workload, or other environmental issues at the workplace, which might be a reason for your mental health problem. Furthermore, this approach will bring a solid and long-lasting solution to your problem. In most cases, direct communication is helpful, particularly when the matter is serious and related to your mental health and well-being.

 

4. Go Through the Company’s Policies

Every multinational company has designed policies for mental health-related issues at the workplace. If you go through these policies, you will be able to know the outcome of any conservation projects that you are planning to discuss with your boss.

Such policies not only give you the confidence to discuss your issue with your boss or manager but also protect your job even after you finish your talk with your boss about your mental health-related problems. Remember that companies have confidentiality in this matter, and they have restrictions to keep conversations secret. If you know that your company keeps everything confidential, then you can approach your manager without hesitation or fear of any job loss or anything that will negatively affect your career.

Even though every country or region has its own policies that they implement in both the public and private sectors, which give you rights and protections when you are going through a mental health-related issue at the workplace,.

 

5. Utilize Company-Available Options

In the multinational companies where you work, they offer you programs or training that you can use to address your mental health-related issues. These options are offered by many companies to their employees without specifying the individuals, allowing everyone to participate in these programs and overcome mental health-related challenges at the workplace. So when you discuss this with your boss, your boss not only offers you the opportunity to participate in the programs that your company generally offers but also provides you with some additional tools and tips that you can apply to yourself by staying in your company.

For example, you can participate in employee assistance programs (EAPs) as well as mental health days, etc., on behalf of the advice that your boss offers. You can take these programs without letting others know about the issue that you are going through except your boss. The thing is, these programs offer you support and counseling that is not just confidential but also according to your situation and the level of your problem because your boss knows your past performance track record and, as a result, offers you best practices that you can apply to yourself to overcome this issue.

 

To sum up the keynote

Mental health is a very common issue that you might face at the workplace, but the crucial thing is to tackle this problem with confidence. In order to overcome this challenge, you need to consider some key points that we have already discussed that will help you overcome your mental health-related complications at work.

 

What is the bottom line?

The bottom line is that you can confidently talk about your mental health-related issue and its solutions at the workplace with your boss if you know how and when to talk, what to say, what your company policies and offers, and finally, what the outcome will be.

 

What we hope for

We hope that this blog post helps you to understand how to make effective and problem-solving communication with your boss regarding your mental health-related complications at work.

If you have any questions to ask, you are welcome to leave a comment below or get in touch with us at support@workwisdoms.com.

 

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