Supporting progress in recovery and return to work

By anticipating potential challenges, and regularly discussing progress, you can help identify potential concerns and address these early before they impact work participation. 

Common barriers to staying at work and returning to work

Barrier: Unsafe work environments

The presence of psychosocial hazards (e.g. high work demands, conflict aggression, bullying, low support, poor role clarity) can create stress at work. These may be particularly challenging for someone experiencing mental ill-health and pose a major barrier to work participation where hazards and risks are not adequately controlled. 

Solutions

An important predictor of a healthy workplace is how the organisation treats its people. Workplaces that provide meaningful work, respect people for their contributions, consult people about matters that impact them and help people feel safe and supported provide environments that support return to work.

All workplaces have legal requirements to identify, eliminate or reduce as far as reasonably practicable psychosocial hazards in the workplace. If the work environment contributed to the experience of mental ill-health, it is particularly important that action is taken to identify what contributed and how to improve the work environment before someone returns to work. 

It is important to understand the perspective of people experiencing mental ill-health to understand what psychosocial hazards they may experience, and ideas they may have for improving safety at work. 

Having meaningful work can be the difference between a positive return-to-work experience and a negative one. Don’t assume you know what a person returning to work can and can’t do. Ask them instead. 

Barrier: Unhelpful beliefs about mental ill-health

The attitudes and beliefs of people in the workplace can influence how supportive they are or whether they believe a person should return to work. People may hold negative views about mental illness, or they may wish to protect a person experiencing mental ill-health in a way that undermines their capability. Being exposed to negative views about mental ill-health can lead people returning to work to feel stigmatised or unsupported by their organisation, and potentially result in negative return-to-work outcomes.

Solutions

Education about mental health and mental illness can dispel common myths. Some important messages to focus on include:

• People with a mental illness can and do work. They also hold valuable roles in families, communities and societies around the world.
• Mental ill-health is common, with almost 1 in 2 Australians experiencing a mental illness in their lifetime. There may be many people in the workplace with a mental illness who chose not to disclose this.
• People with a mental illness may need additional support or understanding from time to time, but they do not need to be protected or treated differently to others.
• There are a range of supports available to help manage mental illness. Mental illnesses can be chronic, fluctuate or occur only for a point in time. Every person has a different experience, and what they need may change over time.
• Most people experiencing mental ill-health are not dangerous or violent.
• Some people can experience challenges with memory, concentration or things like problem solving during a period of mental ill-health. However, these symptoms can resolve over time.

Barrier: Reduced work capacity 

Particularly in the early stages of return to work, people experiencing mental ill-health may experience symptoms that limit their capacity to work. For example, reduced concentration or memory, or fatigue may prevent them working a full day. 

Solutions

Work accommodation, such as reduced hours, different duties, allowance for extra time for tasks can assist in the early stages of return to work and should be incorporated into the return-to-work plan. 

Having an upfront and honest conversation about what work accommodations a person may need can help identify what accommodations can be made. Work accommodations may include changes in tasks, who they report to, where they are located and so forth. It is important to balance what accommodations the organisation can offer with the flexibility an individual may need to help them recover.  

Barrier: A belief people must ‘prove’ mental ill-health  

Because the experience of mental ill-health is hard to observe, some people can be suspicious or feel that people are ‘faking’ or ‘not putting in the effort’. This can result in team members being pressured into activities before they are ready and/or can lead to conflict and hostility within teams. These beliefs can increase stress, reduce trust and lead to poorer return-to-work outcomes. It can lead people to feel they have to prove how much mental ill-health is impacting their ability to work.

Solutions

Workplaces are not expected to diagnose mental health conditions. Rather than getting trapped on the issue of whether someone’s experience is ‘real’, it is more helpful to focus on how they can be supported in their return to work. This position of care and concern is more likely to lead to a positive result.

A sense of suspicion can also develop if people do not have information about what is going on when a team member is absent from work. If this is happening, it could be worth working together with the impacted person to share some information about what is going on for them, rather than leave it to rumours and guesses about why someone is away from work. 

It may also be useful to provide training for people in the workplace to expand their understanding of mental health and how to support people when required.

Return-to-work planning should also consider what other people in your organisation need to know. Keeping other people informed (while still respecting privacy) helps create a positive and supportive work environment. 

Barrier: Poor or non-existent planning for return to work

Research shows workers who do not have a return-to-work plan are less likely to return to work when expected. Without agreed processes, policies and responsibilities, people may have different expectations about what returning to work looks like. These misunderstandings can create conflict and tension that can further increase distress. It can also mean some people miss out on accessing supports if they are not aware they are available.

Solutions

Working with people across the organisation to create or refine processes, policies, responsibilities and supporting materials (e.g. templates, training) can help make these processes simple to navigate. It can also make them fair, transparent and consistent. Appointing a return-to-work coordinator can also help with communicating what is expected to everyone who is involved in the return-to-work process and to adapt policies and templates for individual needs. 

Involving people with a lived experience of mental ill-health can be helpful for understanding how different policies or practice are experienced and where they can be improved.

Barrier: Low self-esteem or poor self-confidence

Some people’s self-esteem and confidence can be reduced during periods of mental ill-health. This can impact their confidence returning to work or influence the types of supports they require.

Solutions

Acknowledging that these concerns are normal can help address them during return-to-work planning. Finding solutions together helps make sure strategies to help with building confidence are not experienced as belittling. They could include people being able to select a buddy or support person, receiving help to check the accuracy of critical work, extra training or support, or allocating more time to complete tasks. 

These concerns can also be part of a treatment plan that people choose to work on with members of their support or treatment team.