Some people in every workplace will inevitably experience common health problems, even though good jobs reduce their frequency. The sooner they are identified the faster they can be dealt with and this reduces the impact on the workplace and helps maintain productivity. Identify anyone at work who is struggling to cope with symptoms of common health complaints or minor injuries. Identify anyone who is off work (i.e. reduced hours, or stopped altogether).

 

All Line Managers need to be able to:

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• Identify any worker who is struggling to cope with symptoms of common health problems or minor injuries.

• Identify anyone with a fit note.

• Identify anyone who is off work (i.e. reduced hours, or stopped altogether).

 

All Workers need to be able to:

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• Recognise when a colleague is struggling to cope with symptoms or injury

 

Struggling at work is something that is going to be identified by the worker themselves, or by another person seeing them. This means you should identify anyone at work who is struggling to cope with symptoms of common health complaints or minor injuries.

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There are two main ways problems at work can be identified:

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1. The individual worker reports problems (e.g. to line manager, OH, or HR), takes time off work or seeks healthcare.
    

2. Either the line manager, or a co-worker, notices changes in performance and behaviour. This means the worker may say something to you or other, or you or others may notice something. There are signs of mental health problems you can look and listen for.

 

Practical Tip: The most likely way you will recognise that you or someone else at work is struggling will be because their behaviour or productivity has changed.

 

We need to distinguish someone who is struggling to cope and has a work-relevant problem from the informal 'grumbles' about work that everyone has from time to time. You need to distinguish pay attention to the struggling worker from the grumbler.

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Someone who says things like 'I don't like this job' is probably just grumbling, or having a bad day. However, if there is an obvious change in their behaviour - moving and doing tasks in an awkward or uncomfortable way, or productivity drops - this may be a sign that the person is struggling.

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For mental health issues and difficulties dealing with stress there is a more detailed list of things to look out for. Again, the key thing is to notice changes that may indicate a work-relevant problem developing.