Supporting and improving employee wellbeing is a continuous process. One of the best tools to help you do this? Line managers.
In addition to handling their many responsibilities in the workplace, line managers must also support their team members’ mental and physical health needs in order to create a thriving and productive working environment.
Wondering where to start?
In this sixth instalment of our line management blog post series, we’re looking at how line managers can learn how to give their team members the best form of health and wellbeing support in the most sensitive, attentive way possible.Our
employee health and wellbeing support guidance follows a straight-forward, 4-Step Plan: recognising signs of poor health, holding open conversations with team members, making effective interventions, and referring to professional resources and experts. So, sit back and let’s explore some invaluable health management strategies you could start using today.
Recognition is the key to prevention: any employee health and wellbeing issue can benefit from early intervention, which can prevent it from escalating into a more serious problem. Line managers can only help their employees with health issues when they know they are struggling. However, for a variety of reasons, employees might not always feel comfortable sharing details of their health concerns with their supervisor. That’s why it’s essential for line managers to go out of their way to be extra vigilant and notice signs of poor health amongst their team.
Employing this level of awareness can:
- Prevent any serious problems from festering or developing into potentially life-threatening or debilitating illnesses. By being encouraged to take health issues seriously, employees can safeguard their overall well-being and feel personally supported and cared for by their manager.
- Help employees feel supported on a professional level. When a line manager is aware of one of their team member’s health concerns, they can help them navigate these issues while avoiding unexplained absences and reduced performance levels.
- Increase employee satisfaction – if their line manager shows concern and a supportive attitude, team members will feel more valued as an integral part of the manager’s team.
- Build trust in the line manager as a reliable figure of support. In the long run, this will help create a stronger team dynamic.
When line managers take notice of their team members’ physical and mental wellbeing, they’ll be more likely to spot the following signs of poor health:
- Changes in mood: low energy or withdrawal from social activities and interaction.
- Changes in behaviour: developing an anxiety/stress-related tic, becoming aggressive, irritable, or quieter than usual.
- Changes in physical appearance: sudden weight gain/loss, sallow skin, or a limp.
- Changes in appetite: e.g., skipping lunch breaks or stopping eating in the staff room.
- Complaints of pain or discomfort.
- Changes in performance: inability to complete tasks they once managed without difficulty, increased mistakes, tardiness, or absenteeism.
Of course,
these signs are not conclusive and can vary significantly according to the individual affected. However, such changes often point to an underlying physical or mental health issue/s. Therefore, it’s vital that line managers take notice of these signs and treat them seriously.
Illness-related absenteeism could seriously impede the success of your business. According to data from Public Health England, the annual economic cost of sickness absence is estimated to be over £100 billion! Taking care of your employees’ health can help you reduce these costs and create a healthier workplace where all can thrive.
Step 2: Conducting Candid Conversations about Health
After recognising signs of poor health in an employee, line managers might wonder, “What’s next?”. How on earth do you begin to tackle these kinds of issues with the utmost levels of tact and sensitivity?
Once you recognise the problem being experienced, gaining a deeper understanding of it is essential. To develop the best solution and support mechanisms, line managers must try to gain a fuller understanding of the team member’s health issues. The only way to do this is to have an open, candid, and honest conversation with the affected employee.
Navigating along the lines of professionalism, respect, and empathy can be a daunting challenge. However,
by following our top 6 tips, line managers can conduct these conversations with care.
6 Ways to Talk to a Team Member about Their Health and Wellbeing
- Ensure Privacy: Any conversation about an employee’s health must be private and confidential. Line managers should schedule 1:1 sessions in safe spaces, e.g., a private office or a pre-booked meeting room. Alternatively, selecting a space outside of the office where traditional office hierarchies are not spatially enforced would be an excellent idea. You could speak about your concerns over a cup of tea in a local café or go for a walk to get some fresh air and chat things through away from the pressures of your workplace.
2. Don’t Overstep Boundaries: Line managers should never ambush their employees into revealing personal details about their mental or physical health. They must give them leeway to speak and reassure them that they only need to share what they are comfortable talking about. While the conversation should be informal, line managers must remember their professional responsibilities and not push for personal information.
3. Express Concern, Not Disappointment: Line managers could use specific phrases to verbalise their worries, e.g., “I’m checking in on you because I’m not sure you’ve seemed like yourself lately” or “I’m concerned about your wellbeing” to explain why they want to have this conversation. This discussion should never be about reprimanding a team member for ‘slacking off’ or failing to meet targets.
4. Stay Focused: It couldn’t be more important for line managers to provide their team members with their full attention during these types of conversations. They should switch off their email alerts and place their phones on silent to limit any distractions.
5. Actively Listen: Active listening = empathetic listening. Line managers should let their employees speak freely without interruption. This conversation should be about how their team member is feeling – it’s not a space for the line manager to dominate the conversation. They mustn’t adopt a hardline of inquiry but should instead allow the employee to steer the conversation in whatever direction they want to. Line managers could employ nonverbal cues like nodding to demonstrate active listening without interrupting. They could also issue small, supportive verbal reassurances whilst listening, e.g., “I understand”, “Please go on”, and “I’m listening”.
6. Recognise Limitations: Line managers are not usually trained health experts and should never try to answer medical questions with specific advice or diagnoses. Instead, they should acknowledge their team member’s medical concerns and questions but tell them they’re not in a position to diagnose them. They should always be honest and tell their employees when they don’t know the answer to a specific question (while working to gather more information about how they can best help them).
Looking at how line managers can learn how to give their team members the best form of health and wellbeing support in the most sensitive, attentive way possible.
