How to recognize and address mental health issues in your office-before its too late
BY RASHA MOURTADA

When Frank Willis (not his real name) noticed a change in one of his staff member's moods, he didn't think much of it as first. The owner of a small Halifax design firm chalked it up to a few crummy days. But soon he started getting complaints from other staff members, commenting on irritability and abruptness. The day he witnessed this staff member snapping at colleagues and insensitively dismissing other people's ideas during a meeting, Willis realized that he had to address the issue-even though it meant stepping out of his comfort zone.

Confronting staff on their behaviour isn't easy, admits Willis. His approach is to start by assuring confidentiality and stressing that he's there to be supportive, rather than come off as threatening. In this case, he discovered that this person was struggling with depression and had stopped taking his medication-leading to the out of character behaviour. "That conversation brought the situation to his attention and got him back where he needed to be," says Willis.

A conversation, in fact, is the best way for employers-large or small-to begin to address mental health issues in the workplace. And that's something they're definitely doing: Upwards of 30 per cent of all disability claims are related to mental health issues, which consist of such conditions as depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse-and, thanks to increased pressure in all spheres of life, they continue to rise. And with 20 per cent of Canadians experiencing a mental illness in their lives, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association, no business is immune.

"It's often difficult for employers to determine exactly what's going on in these situations," says Doug Smeall, assistant vice president of business development at Sun Life Financial in Toronto. "How does an employer figure out if it's just someone who's irritable or if they really have a mental health issue on their hands?" The best route to an answer is through dialogue. "We're not advocating employers try to become health experts," he says. "But part of being a caring employer is to approach the person and try to find out what the problem is."

Finding out what the problem is, says Mary-Lou MacDonald, owner of Inside Health and Business Consulting in Halifax, isn't just good for the employee's personal welfare and interpersonal relations in the office-it also good for the company's bottom line. "The worst thing a small business can do is wait until there's a full-blown problem because of the costs associated with rectifying those problems." Left unchecked, mental health issues in the workplace can spiral out of control, leading to things far worse than just bad behaviour -- such as theft and even violence.

Catching the problem early not only means helping an employee in need, it also means small business owners may avoid costs associated with disability leaves and lost productivity. And that price tag is pretty sizeable: Disability represents as much as 12 per cent of payroll costs in Canada, with mental health claims surpassing those of cardiovascular disease as the fastest growing category of disability costs in Canada. And the total impact of mental health issues on Canadian companies comes in at $33 billion a year as a result of lost productivity, according to Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health.

Where small businesses may lack resources to help them cope with mental health issues, they frequently make up for it with a level of comfort large businesses lack. Owners of small business tend to have good rapports with their staff-so pulling someone aside to express concern isn't so odd.

Genuine concern is definitely part of the equation, says Smeall. But small business owners have to be clear about why they're addressing the issue. "It's important to start by showing concern but also to be very specific about the changes you've noticed and to be very clear about how it's impacting their ability to do their job," he says. And, perhaps most important of all, is telling the employee how you can help them.

That's where lots of small businesses fall short, says MacDonald. "In my experience small business owners are generally unprepared to deal with any workplace issue," she says. "Unlike larger businesses, they don't have the resources to dedicate to things like mental health."

One way to be at the ready is to offer the staff member access to an employee assistance program (EAP), such as Shepell·fgi (formerly WarrenShepell) or Ceridian. Such programs offer preventative advice as well as intervention support through a 24-hour help phone line (Shepell·fgi's gets 4,000 calls a day), and email and in-person counseling - all of which are completely confidential, as well as online resources and on-site information sessions.

Without an EAP, a small business owner can connect with an independent workplace health and safety consultant or ask their insurance provider to step in and do an assessment. Both of these options take control away from the employee, however, and for that reason can be harder to administer. Having an EAP to turn to also means skirting the public health system, and the long waits that go along with it. "Small employers are struggling with the lack of psychiatrists out there," says Smeall.

Many small business owners think that EAPs are financially out of reach. Karen Seward, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Shepell·fgi in Toronto, notes that they're often surprised by how affordable-at $3 to $7 per employee monthly-they actually are. "I had a client once say to me I spend more than that on coffee for my people," she says. MacDonald suggests small business owners check in with their local chamber of commerce, which often pool small businesses together to help them get better EAP rates.

Whether or not you can afford an EAP, waiting until you've got an escalating situation on your hands is not the way to go, says MacDonald. Willis, who's had to deal with mental health issues four times in the last two years with a staff of 15, concurs. "In a small business, these situations are really disruptive, simply because we all share the same space."

Creating a workplace that combats stress in the first place is a good place to start. "We know that there are a number of factors within the workplace setting that contribute to mental health," says MacDonald. "When people aren't clear about their jobs, the pace is too fast, the workload too much, employee skills are not matched with their tasks, poor communication-all of these things create that perfect storm for erosion."

Approachability is also key. "The word here is trust," says Smeall. "If your employees trust you, they're more likely to tell you what's really going on. That's more likely to happen in a small business than in a large business." But that's something all employers could stand to work on. Seventy-nine per cent of Canadian employees believe that a person diagnosed with depression would be most likely keep it to themselves in the workplace "for fear of hurting their future opportunities," according to a recent Ipsos Reid study.

Workplace culture is huge, agrees MacDonald. "We think about things like the right computers and desks," she says. "But we often forget that people are our greatest asset-and that they can also be a liability. We're finally starting to realize that lunch and learns and gym memberships won't do it. We need strategies that are embedded into the culture of the business."