Select a region
In a departure from the normal business seminar, Carey Olsen’s employment lawyers led a session for business leaders and human resource professionals on mental illness and its workplace ramifications by inviting mental health specialist Dr Nick King and Mindfulness trainer Nicky Jenkins to speak.
Partner Elaine Gray and senior associate Rachel Richardson outlined the legal issues for employers and employees around short and long term mental illness while Dr King and Ms Jenkins looked at the science behind stress and mental illness, identifying preventative behaviours which could reduce workplace sickness and improve personal mental health.
Ms Gray outlined the significant legal changes in attitudes towards mental illness in the workplace in the last decade and the responsibilities of businesses to ensure a safe and supportive work environment for staff.
She advocated a process of prevention and support for staff rather than waiting for there to be an issue which could risk litigation.
“If you, as the employer, are aware of someone vulnerable in the workplace and you do nothing to support them you are open to risk of a claim for personal injuries or constructive dismissal,” she said.
Ms Richardson highlighted that stress accounted for 37% of all work related ill-health cases annually in the UK.
“The impact on businesses of both short and long term illness can be enormous so it is important to understand why a member of staff is taking sick leave and having a performance management policy review process which ensures the staff member is actively assisted to return to work,” she said.
“There is no disability discrimination legislation in Guernsey but failure to deal with sickness fairly could lead to unfair or constructive dismissal, personal injury/stress, breach of contract or breach of health and safety legislation claims.”
Dr King spoke about the impact of negative and positive thoughts and explained how we think could build new neural pathways in the brain.
“Where thoughts are positive this fosters positivity and resilience and better mental and physical health but, if the thoughts are negative, the reverse is true and can lead to increased mental and physical illness. This can have a very real impact in productivity in the workplace, our relationships with friends, families and colleagues.
“We can learn techniques, for example Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and mindfulness which can help break the cycle of negativity and promote greater resilience to deal with the everyday ups and downs of life and the demands of a busy workplace. These outcomes are measurable and sustainable. ”
Mindfulness trainer Ms Jenkins explained the importance of pausing and taking stock of the present rather than always rushing and “leaning in” to the next task or meeting.
“We rush from one thing to another in our busy days. We get stressed and believe we have little time to consider what has gone before or what we are feeling in the present; we’re too focussed on the next issue. Just five minutes of being calm, pressing pause and assessing our thoughts and feelings - breathing and calming the mind can help us develop ways of coping with stress,” she said.
The session ended with a short mindfulness practice to demonstrate how helpful meditative practice, however short, can be to continued mental health.
