When HR advice goes horribly wrong
César Gamio
Founder & Managing Director of Dharma Centre for Wellbeing | International Speaker
I am shocked, mystified and extremely concerned about the stance that some professionals in the HR space take when it comes to mental health in the workplace. Although a significant majority accept that mental health at work is an area of concern and their approach is well-meaning, it is still not as effective as it should be.
In a recent conversation with an HR director, I was trying to explain to her that despite all of the numerous employee benefits that her business offers to their employees, her company was not complying with current mental health legislation. I pointed out to her that current legislation requires businesses with more than five employees to have a mental health and safety management system in place to minimise or eliminate work-related mental ill health.
She responded that the legislation does not specifically state that a “Mental Health and Safety Management System” is required, so she has no obligation to set one up. And that in fact, she already has mental health first aiders, an EAP system and offers training to her employees - so she is fully compliant. She added that her HR consultant completely agreed with her stance.
Oh-my-goodness!!
I’d like to point out a couple of things:
Keywords: risk, assessment, health (which obviously includes mental health).
Keywords: planning, organisation, control, monitoring (the components of a SYSTEM!!)
The legislation does not need to be immensely prescriptive and use exact phrases like “Implement Mental Health and Safety” or “Minimise Psychosocial Risk.” The indication of what businesses are required to do is clear enough and would hold up perfectly in a court of law.
I’m not sure whether some HR consultants are merely ignorant about this or if it's a matter of incompetence, but what I’m beginning to notice is that in some cases, to secure their business, they are willing to “side” with their clients on certain topics when claiming that implementing a mental health and safety system is optional. I presume they haven’t got a clue about implementing one that meets best practices so they steer clear of even suggesting it.
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These hugely irresponsible HR consultants are putting their clients at risk. They are exposing their clients to legal, financial and reputational risks. It’s appalling and demoralising. I wish this week’s newsletter could have been more upbeat, but I felt the need to call this out.
Anyway, the positive news is that in a few weeks, we will launch the most comprehensive workplace wellbeing hub in the world, the Dharma Academy for Workplace Wellbeing. There, you will find everything you need to know and do and all the resources you require to comply with your employer’s legal duty of care or meet international standards of workplace wellbeing.
Stay tuned!
...And in the meantime, check out the previous episodes of our podcast for relevant workplace wellbeing insights:
Re Engaged @ Work Podcast
We'll be back on September 6th with our podcast with a brand new line-up of expert guests. Our podcast is dedicated to exploring essential workplace wellbeing topics that will help you drive performance, engagement and retention at work. Subscribe by clicking the links below!