Canadian Safety Reporter

©2015 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-7798-2810-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business). Canadian Safety Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications: • Canadian HR Reporter — www.hrreporter.com • Canadian Occupational Safety magazine — www.cos-mag.com • Canadian Payroll Reporter — www.payroll-reporter.com • Canadian Employment Law Today — www.employmentlawtoday.com • Canadian Labour Reporter — www.labour-reporter.com See carswell.com for information Safety Reporter Canadian www.safetyreporter.com Published 12 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $129 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 E-mail: carswell.customerrelations @thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Carswell Media Karen Lorimer Publisher John Hobel (on leave) Associate Publisher/Managing Editor Todd Humber Lead Editor Sarah Dobson Assistant Editor Mallory Hendry (on leave) Assistant Editor Anastasiya Jogal Contributing Editors Liz Foster Sabrina Nanji Liz Bernier Jeffrey R. Smith Marketing Manager Mohammad Ali mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com (416) 609-5866 Circulation Co-ordinator Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 Positive results of accommodation can win over cynics Managers should be approachable, follow through CSR | November 2015 | News work toward psychologically safe and healthy work environments. Show what's possible through accommodation The majority of employees with mental illnesses can find ways to manage their condition and continue to do the jobs they en- joy and are qualified to do. The best way to reduce frustration, discrimination and stigma is to directly address the issue of ac- commodation and demonstrate how supporting an employee with mental health-related is- sues can benefit everyone. This relates to the W.I.F.M. principle or "What's In It For Me?" • The employee wins because individuals living with a mental illness who remain a contribut- ing member of a work team are much more likely to recover and even thrive. • Co-workers and managers win — even the cynics — be- cause the individual living with a mental illness has a greater op- portunity to continue working to his full capacity, maintaining pro- ductivity levels across the team. • Business wins because leaves of absence may be avoided or shortened. The key to supporting em- ployee success is focusing con- versations on what needs to be accomplished, rather than on what hasn't been done well. This shift in focus can help even cynical managers to bet- ter support the employee, as the emphasis is on brainstorming solutions and strategies that sup- port the employee to get work done effectively, rather than what the cynic may have previ- ously perceived as "excusing" the employee from performing her duties. Few managers, however, are comfortable with this type of conversation. They may turn to a health-care professional, hop- ing to gain direction about what supports the employee needs. But a health-care professional rarely knows enough about the work environment or job de- mands to offer solutions that are targeted to the realities of the work situation. To address this need, tools such as Supporting Employee Success — A Tool to Plan Ac- commodations from the Great- West Life Centre for Mental Health can help. Supporting employee success This resource essentially leads managers and employees through what might have been an uncomfortable, personal or emo- tional conversation and focuses it on workplace issues in an objec- tive and non-judgmental way. It avoids private medical infor- mation altogether and instead considers such job expectations as the ability to meet deadlines, dealing with overlapping tasks, receiving critical feedback and interacting productively with others in the workplace. This kind of tool allows for the manager or employer to de- scribe the level of need for each expectation, for the employee to state his current ability, and for a trusted third party (usually the health-care provider) to review potential solutions that have been used to address the related issues for other employees who worked successfully with a men- tal health issue. There will always be cynics but, in time, the positive results of successful accommodations — in terms of increased pro- ductivity and a psychologically healthy and safe workplace — will ideally outweigh lingering, negative attitudes. Mary Ann Baynton is the program director of the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace in Toronto. For more information, visit www.workplaces- trategiesformentalhealth.com. Managers and supervisors need to be able to empathize with targets of bullying in the workplace, said Cade — to share and identify with someone else's situation. "('Empathize' is) a good word that everyone knows about and they think that they're empa- thetic when they're being polite, but empathy is much more — it's not just your behaviour, it's what you believe too," she said. In fairness to managers, bully- ing can be a challenging issue to address, particularly if they don't work directly with the employee, said Cade. "More and more, we're see- ing managers and supervisors who don't work directly with those who report to them — so it's kind of hard to be able to see (these issues). "So a great manager or super- visor will be approachable and they will constantly verbalize, 'Hey, if there are any challenges or problems, my door's always open,'" she said. After putting that invitation out there, managers should fol- low through by making them- selves available in a timely way if someone does approach them. But it's important to be careful to avoid labelling or diagnosing a person with a mental health is- sue, said Cade. "The label they would rather use is 'bullying' because that's the way in which they see it. They don't see it as 'I have a men- tal health issue.' The bully might be the one with a mental health issue," she said. "With empathy, we want to totally identify with what the target is saying — not psycho- analyze them." Bullying< pg. 6 Stigma < pg. 7

• Cover