Mental Health and the impact of short term absences

Our Head of Employment in Ireland, Ciara McLoughlin, delivered a talk for the White Paper conference company as part of its expert speaker series. Ciara's talk focused on answering a specific question posed by employers:

"If you're facing short-term and sporadic absences because of mental health, how do you balance the competing considerations of support to the individual business needs and HR objects?"

Considering the question, Ciara says that: "this is an age old question that has become more pertinent and relevant now during the pandemic. There have recently been dramatic headlines about a 'tsunami' of mental health issues coming down the track – employers are certainly taking this seriously, and it seems, more so than before… mental health has always been relatively invisible, but working from home really allows it to stay hidden, and this is something that needs to be looked at."

Acknowledging that a mental health finding in Ireland is very likely to be considered a disability, which differs somewhat from the UK and other jurisdictions, Ciara discusses a range of risks and concerns for employers and how to approach them. She notes that "short term sporadic absences are more difficult to approach, because the employee is there and doing some work when they can. A degree of patience is expected – at all times, remember to be The Reasonable Employer."