Mental Health and Mental Well-being Policy

Mental health is one of the greatest current leadership challenges impacting on all public and private sectors. This signpost guide is an addition to the CIA’s Health & Well-being Strategy Series under the industry’s Responsible Care® initiative. In our position as employers, I firmly believe that we are uniquely placed to make the most positive contribution to our employees’ health and well-being.

These guidelines for developing and implementing a ‘Mental health and Mental Well-being Policy’ explore the legal duties, costs arising from employee mental health conditions on our businesses and reasons for action. It also looks at developing a policy and the aspects to consider and tips for making it a success. The emphasis is very much on helping and supporting individuals.

Mental health and wellbeing have remained a top priority for CIA members, often being linked to managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Organisations have evaluated the many potential issues and needs of a range of different types of workers, those at home, hybrid, and on-site working, and now have tackled the challenge for progressing a systematic, phased, safe and healthy returns to work.

We have heard many great stories of experiences from members, both in our Health Leadership Conference, and our fortnightly Workplace Health / Operations call meetings. Some good suggestions for promoting leadership in Mental Health, building flexibility within your arrangements, and developing compassion and understanding in leaders have been made. Companies have also put systems in place to look out for stress, and reinforced key aspects of managing good relationships. Resilience programmes, training, and awareness focussed on encouraging positive habits for wellbeing and how to deal with change. We have also heard how important it is to look out for each other’s mental health, and have those informal conversations, helped, and supported by Core Value Statements to transition to future ways of working.

Mental health and wellbeing have remained a top priority for CIA members, often being linked to managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Organisations have evaluated the many potential issues and needs of a range of different types of workers, those at home, hybrid, and on-site working, and now have tackled the challenge for progressing a systematic, phased, safe and healthy return to work.

We have heard many experiences from members, with good suggestions for promoting leadership in Mental Health, building flexibility within your arrangements, and developing compassion and understanding in leaders. We have also heard how important it is to look out for each other’s mental health, and have those informal conversations, helped, and supported by core value statements to transition to this new future way of working.

Thank you to the CIA Team behind the signposting guide and also the many CIA members who I know have contributed to this. On behalf of CIA I would also like to acknowledge the input provided from Annette Bell and Susan Gimson, Health & Work Specialists with NHS Scotland in proof-reading the first edition of the members’ signposting guide. 

The CIA Team hopes this updated version of the signpost guide will benefit your organisation by helping you to be better prepared in meeting this challenge. We also welcome any feedback on the document. The chemical industry is an industry that matters.