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Psychological Health and Safety Management System

Frequently Asked Questions and Key Messages

General Q. Why should our organization implement a PHSMS? A. A Psychological Health and Safety Management System (PHSMS) can help ensure that your organization is effective in managing human resources. A PHSMS can also contribute to a healthy bottom line. You may wish to consider looking at psychological health and safety as an integral part of all your operations. For example, you can integrate concern about psychological health and safety into business activities such as hiring, training, promoting and redeploying employees. See Elements and Priorities towards a Psychologically Safer Workplace for more information. Q. Is this about employee mental illness? A. No. The adoption of a PHSMS is not about assessing an individual employee’s mental health. It is about considering the impact of workplace processes, policies and interactions on the psychological health and safety of all employees. For those employees who have a mental illness such as depression or anxiety there may be additional considerations for an employer, such as those related to the duty to accommodate. This and other human rights considerations are addressed elsewhere on this website under accommodation. On average, there will be a percentage of the working population diagnosed with a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety. Human rights, labour and employment laws speak to workplace obligations and responsibilities for this group. While a PHSMS can be helpful for this population, a PHSMS is primarily intended to be preventive for the entire workforce in the same way that occupational health and safety systems are preventive for physical injuries and illnesses for the entire workforce. Q. Are you suggesting that organizations are solely responsible for the psychological health of all employees? A. No. Many factors, including those that are outside of an employer’s control, can have an impact on psychological health. These include factors that are not related to the workplace such as:

Genetics

Personal issues

Family concerns

Financial challenges

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Generally, an individual is responsible for his or her own health and well-being, whether in or out of the workplace. However, organizations should do no harm to worker health. One analogy would be a physical risk, such as a chemical in the workplace, which may not negatively impact all workers who are exposed to it. If the identified risk from the chemical is significant enough, that chemical should be eliminated. If the risk cannot be eliminated, it may be isolated, training or guidance may be offered to those whose job requires exposure, or new procedures may be put in place to help mitigate the risk of exposure to the chemical. It is similarly necessary to identify potential risks to the psychological health and safety of workers and take steps to eliminate or limit those risks for workers. A PHSMS helps employers learn to do this more effectively. Q. Will the process of implementing a PHSMS open up the proverbial “can of worms”? A. This is a very common concern among employers in deciding whether to implement a PHSMS. But avoiding or denying issues can allow problems to get worse until they hit a crisis point. By proactively considering psychological health and safety issues, you can help prevent time-consuming and morale-dampening situations that can arise. For example, there are several legal cases where organizations had promotion practices that put people into positions of authority without the checks and balances to ensure their competence. Had these safeguards been in place, the resulting arbitration or legal cases would not have taken up the time and resources, nor damaged the reputation of the organizations involved. With effective communication to the workforce about the intent of a PHSMS, and clear guidelines about the approach towards improvement of workplace psychological health and safety that will be taken, you can reap as much value from the process as from the outcomes. Q. Will a PHSMS create undue stress and pressure for managers? A. Some managers may worry that a PHSMS is aimed at uncovering individual manager shortcomings. That is not the point of a PHSMS. Managing employees can be challenging, especially in times of emotional distress or conflict. The article “Emotional Cost of Managing” validates these challenges and helps managers gain the insight, knowledge, skills or training necessary to address these concerns. Management style is only one of several factors that may impact psychological health and safety in the workplace. Anyone who is interested in improving personal and organizational effectiveness can benefit significantly from the implementation of a PHSMS. Q. Could this approach violate employee confidentiality and privacy? A. The PHSMS is not intended to focus on any individual employee. Rather, it is intended to consider organizational approaches, strategies, policies, procedures and interactions that have the potential to impact the psychological health or safety of any employee. Every organization is unique and the approach to establishing, documenting and maintaining a PHSMS should respect its needs and resources. Helpful approaches and strategies are available free of charge, and can be modified to the unique nature of your organization. Should you again mention where they are available? Should this question be removed?

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Commitment and Leadership Sample key message to senior leaders and management: According to Dr. Martin Shain, emerging case law is increasingly holding employers responsible for providing a psychologically safe workplace. In addition, research shows that a psychologically healthy workplace can be, on average, more profitable. Sample key messages to the union: The primary goal of implementing a PHSMS is to help protect employee psychological health and safety by addressing organizational and work environment factors. Union involvement in a PHSMS is important to its success. Sample key messages to middle management: Managing employees can be challenging, especially in time of emotional distress, conflict or trauma. An effective PHSMS provides support and information to help you address these issues. It has the potential to reduce your own workplace stressors and pressures. Sample key messages to employees: Our organization is committed to protecting the health and safety of all employees. This includes psychological health and safety. In order to identify and address those factors that have the potential to impact psychological health and safety, we are embarking on expanding our health and safety management approach and we need your help. This initiative is not about your personal health status. It is about the organization’s impact on the health and well-being of all employees. Participation and Engagement: Q. What if employees are skeptical about engaging? A. You may want to tell employees that:

The organization is embarking on a new initiative to consider the psychological health and

safety of all employees in every facet of its operations. That it is an organization-wide

program, involving everyone and that each person has a role to play. That it is not about

individual health only, but about how the workplace can affect employee mental health and

safety generally.

This initiative is not about individual health only, but about how the organization’s work

affects employees

Senior management and the union (if there is one) are committed to making progress on

building psychological health and safety into all aspects of the organization’s business

This initiative will be a priority and that accountability will be built into the program at all

levels

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Planning Q. When is the right time to initiate the Psychological Health & Safety Management System? A. Addressing psychological health and safety is always important. In a well-functioning workplace, implementing a PHSMS can allow you to identify the factors that are contributing to your success. This can help ensure that these factors are protected throughout the growth and development of the organization. Like other health and safety approaches, it is an ongoing process, but if this is a new approach in your organization, you may wish to consider the following: Organizations with too much to do now may begin with only looking at one psychosocial factor, such as workload management. This can open up the dialogue, identify solutions, reduce stress-related absenteeism, and assist in creating an atmosphere for continued improvement. Leading edge organizations that conscientiously choose best practices as part of their journey of continual improvement can add a PHSMS to existing policies and processes to help stay ahead of the curve. If you have a poisoned or toxic workplace, it is important to put safeguards in place to help ensure that no further harm is done to psychological health and safety. This could include immediately addressing issues of violence, harassment, bullying or discrimination. It would also be important to be transparent about accepting responsibility for the current situation, and the need to make changes to reduce the likelihood of this happening again. By accepting responsibility, you can reduce the need for others to justify or defend their current behaviours or positions, and open the door to a new way of doing business. Employers of choice or those who have already won recognition for their healthy workplaces can use the implementation of a PHSMS to continue to energize and motivate the workforce. If there has been a recent traumatic incident in the workplace, being open about the effects of the trauma and providing effective supports could be a first response. This also presents a window of opportunity to engage staff in building protective factors around psychological health and safety in the workplace. It will be necessary to be sensitive to the current abilities of those who are impacted by the trauma to engage in this process, but in many cases it could be helpful in the recovery process. If there are current labour disputes this may not be the ideal time to begin a process where management and the union are expected to co-operate closely. If there are impending difficult business issues such as shutdowns, layoffs, terminations or deployments, the focus should be on limiting the risk related to the impact of these issues. Those who are left in the workplace may face increased workplace demands that can make it more difficult for them to also become involved in the development of a new system. This, however,

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should not prevent the workplace from zeroing in on how the particular psychological health and safety issues currently impact the workforce (e.g., change management, grief at the loss of co-workers or increased workload pressures, etc.). Q. How do we prepare for this initiative? A. There are a number of important steps you can consider to help facilitate the successful implementation of a PHSMS, such as: 1. Identify and articulate your organization’s reasons for implementing a PHSMS at this time. 2. Anticipate any possible challenges and barriers that may impact the successful implementation

of a PHSMS. 3. Obtain a written commitment from senior leadership, in the form of a directive or policy

statement, in support of psychological health and safety. In unionized environments, obtain support from union leadership.

4. Identify one or more committed champions in the ranks of senior leadership who has the ability to influence and mobilize resources and commitment throughout the process.

5. Establish a working group of key stakeholders who will help drive the process. These stakeholders should come from all levels of management, and include employees and employee representatives. Where possible, involve a representative from key departments, such as human resources, occupational health and safety or finance.

6. Create a proposed timeframe and budget for the stages of planning, implementation and evaluation of the PHSMS.

The following resources include information planning: Guarding Minds @ Work: How to Implement – Where to Start? 1. Identify organizational needs 2. Determine appropriate assessment components 3. Identify key participants 4. Create a communications plan such as a template letter to introduce Guarding Minds @ Work

to employees 5. Sign up for the Guarding Minds @ Work dashboard Guarding Minds @ Work: Assessment Tools Q. How do we decide what participation we need? A. You will want to involve representatives from all sectors of your organization. This includes senior management, union representatives, line managers, occupational health and safety representatives, human resource professionals, your employees and any other individuals who play a role in the workplace. Once you have interest and commitment from your key players, employees may be more likely to trust the process. Ensure that confidentiality is protected throughout the process, and that raw data is aggregated before being shared with the working groups. Q. What should the working group focus on? A. Whether the task is planning, implementation or evaluation, the focus should be on how the process, policies or programs may impact psychological health and safety of employees.

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Q. What are we trying to achieve? A. The outcomes from a workplace that promotes psychological health and safety can range from improved morale and a reduction in accidents, injuries or sick days to improved productivity, innovation or creativity.

Implementation

Q. How do I assess how much time is required? A. Maintaining a psychologically healthy and safe workplace requires an ongoing commitment that should be embedded throughout the organization’s policies and processes. The size and scope of the initial communication and plan development will be relative to the complexity of your organization and the initiatives you choose to implement. Many well-thought-out plans can be developed by establishing guiding principles that can be applied to all future decisions. For example, consider including in all business discussions about new or revised policies, procedures, programs and interactions the question, “How might this impact psychological health and safety?”; this change may allow you to begin to embed this approach without devoting a lot of time to an add-on program. Where possible, provide some larger blocks of time up front so you can gather information and assess your current situation. Once this is completed and your organization has developed a plan, it could be something that can be worked on by dedicating a set amount of time on an ongoing basis (even a minimal amount of time each week).