Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. It can depend on a person’s personality and experiences, their social and economic circumstances, and the availability of local resources.
Signs that someone is experiencing mental health issues:
Coping with these feelings and getting help when you need it will help you, your family, and your community recover. Connect with family, friends, and others in your community online or over the phone. Take care of yourself and each other, and know when and how to seek help.
Let employees know what HR policies you have in place. Protect them and their job if they get sick or need time away. Keep them updated if anything changes.
Empathize and reassure. Talk to employees and let them know you are listening and there to help
Provide resources. Make sure your employees know about mental health resources available to them, including if your employee benefits include counsellors/psychologists or an Employee Assistance Program.
Be understanding. Recognize that stress may be overwhelming some employees. Be understanding if they need to take a mental health day or attend medical appointments. Encourage them to take breaks to manage stress and practice self-care by listening to music, doing relaxation exercises, etc.
In stressful times, people may not behave as they normally would. This may escalate mental health concerns and/or lead to violence, bullying, or harassment.
Employers have a duty to take reasonable steps to minimize or eliminate the risk of violence, bullying, and harassment in the workplace, whether the source is an employee or a member of the public. Be aware that these can take the form of swearing, verbal abuse, pranks, arguments, spreading rumours, property damage, vandalism, and more.
See the Government of Alberta’s Workplace Harassment and Violence webpage for more information
Family violence is any form of abuse or neglect that a child or adult experiences from a family member, or from someone with whom they have an intimate relationship. It has also been described as the abuse of power within relationships of family, trust or dependency that endangers another person.
When family violence follows a victim to work, it becomes a workplace issue. An aggressor can present a risk to the victim or others in the workplace itself. A study of domestic violence in Canada and its impact on the workplace has found more than one third of workers across the country have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime, and for more than half of those affected, the violence followed them to work.
What effect does family violence have on the workplace?
People experiencing family violence often feel isolated. They may feel ashamed, or have concerns that their situation will compromise their employment so they are afraid to say anything. Similarly, those who suspect family violence may be affecting an employee are afraid to approach this subject or intervene for many reasons. This further isolation increases the risk to those who experience family violence. In addition, people experiencing family violence often experience difficulty getting to work and state that their work performance is negatively affected. Other implications for the workplace include:
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the Family Violence Info Line at 310-1818 to get help anonymously in more than 170 languages.