If you’re a line manager, you have a role to play in setting the tone and expectations in your own team(s). This is especially important when many staff are working in a blended way, which can make it harder to know if anyone is struggling with their wellbeing. It's also important to remember that staff won't always say if they are struggling.
It’s not always obvious when someone is dealing with wellbeing challenges (mental health or otherwise). This is especially true now that so many of us only work on campus for a few days each week, which means that much of the time we’re interacting with colleagues through Teams or Zoom. There may be times when you can spot the signs if someone is struggling with their wellbeing (see, for example, the tips in Spotting and addressing stress), but this won’t cover every situation. As a manager, you can help to encourage a more open team culture when it comes to wellbeing by:
- Never making assumptions about the reasons behind someone’s behaviour;
- Never assuming that a wellbeing issue will automatically have a negative impact on someone’s performance;
- Making wellbeing a natural part of work discussions, both in team catch-ups and individual one-to-ones (see the Professional Wellbeing webpage for more). New for 2024, new guidance has been developed to help managers have conversations with staff about wellbeing and mental health, so you can be sure that you're picking up on the key points and supporting staff in the best ways.
Whether you’re on or off campus, there are some general good practice ways to promote a healthy wellbeing culture in your team(s). In particular, you should:
It may seem harder to support your team’s wellbeing (mental health or otherwise) if you’re not working in the same space as them. Working in different locations means that you may have to be more proactive about staying in touch. Here are some general tips:
- Stay in touch. Have regular team catch-ups (daily if possible): ask your team how they are doing and if they need any support. There are practical things you can do to help manage the risks of stress and mental health problems for staff working at home, such as:
- Talk openly with staff about the possibility of them becoming stressed or mentally unwell;
- Involve staff in completing stress risk assessments (where individual staff would find this helpful) to that they can help to identify potential problems and solutions;
- Keep staff updated on what is happening so that they can feel involved and reassured;
- Make staff working from home aware of any occupational support available to them.
- As well as team catch-ups, make sure that you continue to have one-to-one catch-ups with individuals.
- At the same time, remember that, because they aren’t having face to face chats, staff working remotely are receiving all of their communications as emails, messages and video calls. Communication ‘overload’ is a real possibility as many of us work from home, so it’s important to allow employees to ‘disconnect’ for periods so that they can concentrate.
- If you’ve not already done so, consider setting up a Teams channel for your team: it’s a good way to stay in touch and have the more casual conversations that might otherwise have happened on campus.
- Use external resources to supplement LSE's own policies and guidance. You may find the following useful:
Excessive workload is likely to negatively impact someone's stress or general wellbeing. Encouraging a more open and supportive culture when it comes to workload concerns is therefore a fundamental way in which you, as a line manager, can contribute to better staff wellbeing. If an employee identifies burnout or burnout symptoms, here are some useful documents on how to facilitate a conversation:
If their job doesn’t involve regular use of a computer, encourage them to take breaks from where they usually work – even if it’s just stepping outside for a few minutes, this can help to reduce or offset any potential wellbeing issues, e.g. posture. You should also encourage staff, wherever possible, to take proper lunch breaks - lunch breaks aren't just about the opportunity to grab some food, they're an important means of finding a little mental space during the work day. You can lead by example!
Finding a little time to exercise can also boost wellbeing during the work day - even 10-15 minutes can make a difference.
Access advice about posture and general set-up of their work area, including workstation assessments.
As well as the core resources that LSE offers to support staff wellbeing and mental health - such as the Staff Counselling Service and EAP - there's also a wide range of other resources, tools and guidance that staff may find helpful, depending upon their individual circumstances. For example:
Wellness Action Plans can be a useful way of agreeing and recording what signs to look out for with the individual and what might help. This is useful to undertake so that there is already a clear plan in place if and when the individual starts feeling an increase in stress. Wellness Action Plans and similar tools can be especially helpful if your team works in a blended way which can mean that changes in someone's behaviour and/or performance are otherwise harder to notice. You might also discuss with the individual if they would like to share aspects of their wellbeing plan with colleagues so that everyone is mindful of each other's wellbeing.