Traditionally, the task of improving mental health and wellbeing at work are often considered to be a problem exclusively for human resources (HR). However, risk management teams also have a crucial role to play. By encouraging collaboration between these functions, businesses can maximise wellbeing among their employees. Not only will this deliver a healthier and happier workforce, but it can also help to reduce risk and deliver greater financial returns.
Below, we explore the key benefits of HR and risk management collaboration:
Mental health issues create risks beyond HR’s scope
When it comes to risk management, HR focuses on the risks that employees pose to a business. This includes risks around employee behaviour, improper management, or hiring and firing policies. Mental health and wellbeing typically fall within the responsibility of HR. However, poor mental health at work can also contribute to a range of risks that fall outside HR’s scope, such as:
Operational risk – employees experiencing mental health issues may have reduced cognitive function, leading to increased errors, accidents, or poor decision-making, all of which directly affect operational efficiency.
Legal and compliance risk – mental health-related problems can give rise to legal liabilities such as workplace discrimination claims, disability accommodations, or failure to provide a safe working environment. A failure in this area could lead to costly penalties or lawsuits.
Reputational risk – if mental health problems go unaddressed, they can lead to employee dissatisfaction and burnout, which may negatively affect business reputation.
Financial risk – there is also the potential for increased healthcare costs, absenteeism, and turnover, which result in financial losses. The increased risk of claims arising from operational, compliance or reputational failures may also increase the cost of a business’s insurance premiums.
Risk management is about prevention, not reaction
Risk management focuses on proactively identifying and mitigating potential risks to a business, including risks related to workforce health. Taking a risk-based approach to mental health and wellbeing can help businesses to address underlying vulnerabilities, and prevent potential problems before they arise.
Early interventions to prevent risks from escalating include stress management and wellness programmes. Businesses may also explore ways to create a culture that supports mental wellbeing, reducing the probability of accidents or errors due to mental health issues.
This could include setting more reasonable workloads, providing options for flexible working, or ensuring employees (particularly those at a junior level) receive adequate supervision can help to prevent stress and poor wellbeing.
Businesses may also seek to tackle ‘accidental’ management (in which employees demonstrating strong performance are rewarded with managerial responsibility) by rolling out dedicated management training, or making specific management hires.
Collaboration can deliver cross-functional value
By encouraging collaboration between HR and risk management teams, businesses can gather data-driven insights into how mental health issues have correlated with past claims, operational disruptions, or regulatory penalties. This can help to quantify the financial and operational risks posed by ignoring mental health.
Alternatively, businesses could gather data on absenteeism, employee engagement, or error rates pre- and post-implementation of wellbeing programmes. In doing so, they can demonstrate the financial value of benefits, proving their worth beyond employee satisfaction.
HR teams can also provide risk management with knowledge about employee engagement and wellbeing trends. This may help to identify emerging sources of risk and pre-empt legal claims relating to mental health discrimination or inadequate workplace adjustments for stress. HR can also facilitate the delivery of training and supervision programmes to help employees identify and combat wellbeing risks.
Improved decision-making
By collaborating with risk management, HR teams can ensure their decisions align with risk management strategies. This includes:
Prioritising high-risk areas – risk teams can analyse claims data or operational incidents to identify areas where mental health support could mitigate the greatest risks to a business, such as stressful job roles that might lead to burnout or errors.
Tailoring employee benefits to risk – risk managers can highlight to the HR team where specific benefits, such as access to mental health professionals or resilience training, could address systemic risks that are common across the relevant profession, such as presenteeism or performance failures due to stress.
Want to learn more?
For more in-depth information on improving wellbeing, read our People Risk Management Guide (opens a new window).
Alternatively, visit our People Solutions (opens a new window) page for further insights, or reach out to a member of our team.
