Mentally Healthier Workplaces
How to use the new psychologically safe
workplace standards to benefit your bottom line
Is what we say what we do?
Outline
• Define the problem
• Cost it out
• Creation of the voluntary Psychologically
Safe Work Place Standards
• Where should a company start
• Resources
* Many slides adapted from :
• 2013 CSA group Psychological Health and Safety in the
Workplace
• Mental Health Works 2013
• Mental Health Commission of Canada – An Action
Guide for Employers 2012
Workplace mental health Issues
•
•
•
•
•
Depression
Anxiety
Burnout
PTSD
Compassion
fatigue
Psychologically unsafe = MENTAL INJURY
Conduct that often leads to mental injury
• Harassment
• Bullying
• Mobbing
• Discrimination
Conduct that MAY Lead to Mental Injury
1. Expecting too much of workers with no heed to the consequences.
2. Withholding discretion over work where no business rationale exists.
3. Refusing to acknowledge contributions or to assign credit.
4. Demonstrating bias in distribution of work or rewards.
Continued…
5. Chronic failure to provide timely and relevant information.
6. Not allowing sufficient participation in decisions.
7. Not providing psychological support or material resources to get the
job done (when such exist).
8. Not paying attention to the legitimate interests of workers.
9. Failing to identify and correct abusive situations.
10. Failing to accommodate the needs of those with a mental illness.
The cost of MH issues in the workplace
• 30% of short and long-term disability claims
• In 2010, MH conditions were responsible for 47% of all
approved disability claims in the federal civil service
• $6 Billion in lost productivity due to absenteeism and
presenteeims
• New legal responsibilities around psychological safety
i.e. liable for claims if a worker is harassed or bullied or
even chronically overworked.
The personal health impacts
* Adapted from CSA Group 2013
Cost to business and our economy
• 82% of businesses that
responded to a national
survey ranked mental
illness in their top 3
reasons for short term
disability (72% for long
term)
• Direct employer costs are
estimated at $2.97 billion
• $11 billion cost to Canada
All for preventable
workplace mental
health injury
Business costs
1. Productivity
2. Recruitment and retention
3. Costs due to disability, absenteeism and
preenteeism
4. Conflict resolution
5. Operational success
LEGAL COSTS:
For the first time in Canadian history, employers are
under pressure of an emerging legal duty to create
and maintain not only a physically safe workplace,
but also a psychologically safe work environment.
– The Shain Reports on Psychological Safety in the Workplace, April 2010
Implications of the Law
Three key responsibilities that underlie the putative duty to
ensure a psychologically safe workplace:
1. Keep demands within the known capacity of employees
(don’t push in the dark).
2. Enable basic “voice” (make it safe to speak up).
3. Monitor and respond to signs of conflict/distress (be
vigilant for warning signs and act on them).
Psychologically Safety
Healthy
• A psychologically healthy
workplace is one where
every reasonable effort is
made to promote the
mental health of workers.
CAN/CSA Z1003-12 – THE standards
Key drivers of the Standard:
• Risk Management
• Cost Effectiveness
• Recruitment and Retention
• Organizational Excellence and Sustainability
This is a governance issue to be addressed by
the highest level of authority/accountability
within the organization
P6 framework – Quality Improvement model
(international Standards organization
POLICY
PRESISTENCE
PLANNING
PROCESS
PROMOTION
PREVENTION
It’s about culture!!!!
Shift the culture so
it is part of your
organization's DNA
A psychologically safe culture
One in which there is…
• Zero tolerance for mentally injurious conduct;
• Strong support for respectfulness and fairness; and
• High level of agreement on the meaning of these
terms.
The Psychological Health and Safety
Management System (PHSMS) – the Heart of
the Standard
1. Leadership commitment
and policy [Govern and
Manage]
2. Planning [Assess]
3. Implementation
[Address]
4. Evaluation [Evaluate]
5. Review and corrective
action [Correct and
Improve]
Training and Awareness of Mental Health Issues is the KEY as
both a mechanism for recognizing, responding, supporting and
erasing stigma.
Some cultural basics for the psychologically safe
workplace
Foster basic understandings and reduce stigma
• Mental wellbeing is gained and lost every day through our normal
interactions and relationships at work.
• We can influence this “exchange” for the better
• Not all mental illness is brought to work: sometimes it is created or
precipitated there.
• Mentally ill people are not “the other”, they are us.
• Mental injury and mental illness are not always the same thing.
FREE RESOURCES
Phone: 905.853.8477 | 1.866.208.5509
Email: yorkregion@cmha-yr.on.ca
Website: www.cmha-yr.on.ca
Workshops / Consultants
Phone: 905.853.8477 | 1.866.208.5509
Email: yorkregion@cmha-yr.on.ca
Website: www.cmha-yr.on.ca
CMHA York Region – Mental Health
Promotion
Living Life to the Full
Phone: 905.853.8477 | 1.866.208.5509
Email: yorkregion@cmha-yr.on.ca
Website: www.cmha-yr.on.ca
Workplace Teams Demonstrate Support