Managing an Employee with Anxiety: Legal and Practical Steps

Organisations perform better when their staff are engaged and healthy, evidenced by a multitude of studies including recent research by Oxford University, which discovered a conclusive link between employee happiness and a 13% increase in productivity. While many organisations are starting to appreciate research like this and put in the legwork to nurture their people’s wellbeing, carrying these values becomes most important during what can be stressful and complex situations.

Many people will face challenges with their mental health during their lifetime. The treatment they receive from their employer during these times is often crucial to their recovery, not to mention influential for the reputation of the employer – with their own employees, within their industry, as well as from a legal perspective. Transparency and dignity should be at the core of managing staff with anxiety, while ensuring full compliance with the law.

Anxiety: An Overview

Mental health problems can look different for every individual. They can occur suddenly, due to a specific, isolated experience or develop gradually over a sustained period of time.

Physical and behavioural symptoms can look different for different people, but some common signs of anxiety include:

• Heart palpitations
• Feeling sick
• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Tiredness
• Irritability
• Difficulty concentrating
• Restlessness

There are also several types of anxiety disorder, including panic disorder, phobias, PTSD, and OCD.

What are the employer’s responsibilities?

Employers have a ‘duty of care’. This means they must do all they reasonably can to support the health, safety and wellbeing of their people. Employers must treat mental and physical health as equally important. Employers must also do all they can to make sure their people’s working environment is safe, protect staff from discrimination, as well as carry out risk assessments.

Discriminating against someone with a disability

According to UK law (Equality Act of 2010) someone with poor mental health can be considered disabled if:

• It has a ‘substantial adverse effect’ on their life – for example, they struggle to complete tasks.
• It lasts, or is expected to last, at least 12 months.
• It impacts their ability to carry out ordinary everyday activities, such as keeping to schedules or socialising with other people.

Poor mental health can be considered a disability even if they do not have symptoms all the time and reasonable adjustments must still be made.

Remember, once aware of health or disability information, employers have legal duties to consider making reasonable adjustments. They also have a general duty of care and responsibility for employee health and preventing personal injury. However, adjustments should be made to help all staff cope and recover, whether or not they have a formal diagnosis. For information about when an employer may have a duty to make adjustments to someone’s job role, see Mind’s legal briefing on disability discrimination in employment.

Managing an Employee with Anxiety: How do you talk to an employee about their anxiety?

Choose an appropriate setting

Set up your conversation somewhere private and quiet where the person can feel as at ease as possible. If they work remotely, then having a virtual meeting may trigger the least anxiety as it is a familiar set up for them, but you may also consider travelling to meet them somewhere they feel comfortable if an in-person meeting is necessary.

Have the right attitude

When dealing with an employee with anxiety, remember that some employees may be concerned of discussing their mental health due to stigma, and talking about mental health can feel vulnerable and frightening due to its personal nature, regardless of how accepting your company culture may be. Listening attentively, expressing compassion, and keeping questions non-judgmental and non-assumptive will be crucial in giving the employee the confidence to share what kind of support they may require.

You may be interested to read about Addressing Men’s Mental Health in the Workplace.

Remain workplace oriented

While the employee may choose to share how their mental health has influenced the personal life, questions should remain strictly relevant to the employee-employer relationship. This allows you to remain professional and ensure focus on how the organisation can actionably support their employee. If there are specific grounds for concern, like high absence levels or impaired performance, it’s important to address these at an early stage so that the employee does not feel blindsided.

Confidentiality

Reassure the employee that confidentiality will be treated with the utmost respect. HR should put in place policies to protect employee confidentiality, as well as discuss with the employee what information they might want shared, how and with whom. For further information on data protection refer to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Managing an Employee with Anxiety: How to navigate anxiety-related absence

Sometimes an employee will need time off work to recover if their anxiety is severe. By managing this situation with mindful respect and proper planning, and employer can contribute positively to the recovery and return of their employee.

It’s important to maintain appropriate contact with people throughout their sickness absence. This must be conducted in a balanced way, showing concern for the employee’s wellbeing without applying pressure for them to return to work before they are well enough.

It can help to appoint one individual as their main point of contact. You must ensure that all communications with the employee are documented, such as by keeping record of phone calls or meetings. The amount of contact will also likely depend on the employee’s role within the organisation.

You may begin to outline the employees return-to-work plan. A robust return-to-work plan is vital to effectively managing and re-integrating an employee’s return to the workplace and their role. Your return-to-work plan should address the person’s specific needs through agreed upon steps, which could include:

• Support from HR or their line manager
• Reasonable adjustments
• Peer support

Discussing these steps in advance with those involved and with the employee when appropriate as well as putting the plan in writing with help reduce stress for everyone. It will provide a formal record of goals, progress, as well as any alterations that may be made to the plan. It’s important to maintain a realistic yet positive attitude when creating and actioning on your plan, such as by focusing on what the employee can do over what they may still struggle with, and being flexible to updates as the plan gets rolled out.

Regardless of if the employee’s anxiety issues meet the criteria of being considered a disability or not, simple adjustments can still have a significant impact. For example, a ten-minute meeting at the beginning of the day the prioritise tasks as well as check in can be an effective way to give the employee a regular opportunity for communication and understand how to best combat their workload for the day. It may also help their manager and HR to understand how the employee is doing, day by day.

Managing Staff with Anxiety: People Technology

HR technology can help employers make wellbeing resources and policies available across the workforce, empowering employees to reach out for help early on as well as access knowledge themselves if they don’t yet feel comfortable discussing the topic with their manager or HR. A single source of truth can make a stressful or confusing experience simple and straightforward.

Additionally, HR analytics tools can provide insights that are invaluable for taking care of your people. With a software that puts data at your fingertips and allows you to create custom reports seamlessly, your HR team are able to track live metrics, identify patters, and make evidence-based decisions around health in the workplace, instead of relying on anecdotal or inconsistent data.

Check out our case studies to learn how the xcd platform has made a difference for our client’s people.