Small businesses and mental health: How to prepare for a crisis at work

Coworkers sharing personal moments at work privately in a meeting room.

Rocket Lawyer details how small businesses can prepare for mental health crises in the workplace.

Coworkers sharing personal moments at work privately in a meeting room.

Oct. 10 marks World Mental Health Day, a great opportunity to review your business’s emergency plan. For small businesses, that plan can slip through the cracks because it doesn’t feel important enough, but preparing before an incident is key to staying in good legal standing.

Mental health crises can present in many different ways. An employee may say something that suggests they are thinking about harming themselves or someone else. They may express feeling unable to cope or stay safe. They may experience severe distress that prevents them from continuing to work or communicating normally. Most business owners want to help but don’t know how. They may not know what’s appropriate to ask, what to document, or where their legal responsibility begins and ends.

The right response depends on the circumstances, especially whether there appears to be an immediate safety concern. Below, Rocket Lawyer explains what small business owners need to know to prepare for a mental health crisis.

Most small businesses have a plan for a workplace injury or a fire drill. They will know what to do when the time comes and aren’t worried about the process of handling these situations. Far fewer businesses have thought through what to do when the “emergency” is a mental health crisis. Without a plan, you or your managers can unintentionally make a difficult moment worse for the employee. You might also mishandle the situation (asking the wrong questions, documenting incorrectly, or treating every situation the same way), which can, in turn, create legal exposure.

Owners often assume they’d know what to do in these critical moments, but employees don’t always share that confidence in how their workplace would actually respond. That gap between how prepared owners think they are and how prepared employees feel their workplace is worth paying attention to. By preparing documentation, you make your business a safer place to work.

A crisis at work can take different forms, and each calls for a slightly different response:

The right response isn’t one-size-fits-all. Depending on the situation, your actions should change. That’s why having a basic response plan in place before a difficult situation arises matters.

Before a mental health crisis might occur, learn if your business is prepared by asking yourself a few key questions:

A simple plan means that when something happens, you can focus on the person in front of you, not on figuring out what to do.

World Mental Health Day is a good moment to think about mental health. If you or someone you work with is struggling, consider reaching out to a mental health professional or a trusted resource.

This story was produced by Rocket Lawyer and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Originally published on rocketlawyer.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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