Other helpful policies

In addition to reviewing policies that might pose problems for those experiencing mental ill health, union negotiators might want to push for collective policies that can contribute to employees’ wellbeing and enable those with short or long-term mental health problems to continue in work. For example, if they are not already present in the workplace, reps could consider proposing to their employer policies on:

• flexible working;

• career breaks;

• workload management;

• bullying and harassment/dignity at work;

• organisational change; and

• substance abuse and dependency.

The Unite senior union rep at the National Lottery Community Fund says: “As part of a piece of work the union is doing to refresh the organisation’s policies, we are creating various ‘statements of intent’ around specific mental health issues (including the mental health side of menopause, and dementia). These are not intended to be policies in their own right, but should be referred to in conjunction with existing policies (such as our flexible working policy, or our capability policy) to ensure that we are supporting colleagues experiencing these issues.”