This page shares learning from the group including the causes and effects of insufficient support for staff with lived experience
Causes of insufficient support
- HR departments
Smaller organisations don’t have the resources to have full HR departments and the HR processes and policies we do have often fail to take into account the reality of people’s lives and can be incompatible with our values.
- Stigma
There is still a stigma against advocacy for your mental health and taking time off when needed. This avoidance and fear attached to the negative perceptions delays people’s ability to fully recover.
- Demand being almost always greater than capacity
The demand for support from your service beneficiaries doesn’t stop when your employees take time off.
- Funding
Smaller organisations compete with larger organisations for funding and can struggle in relation to their actual core costs of employing higher numbers of staff with lived experience. Larger organisations often have fewer employees with lived experience.
In order to win bids, smaller organisations are somewhat forced to claim the same % as larger organisations for core ‘support and recovery costs’ to avoid funding rejection or withdrawal, despite bearing a disproportionately greater cost.
- Sick leave
If employees need time off, smaller organisations can’t afford to pay their full-time-wage whilst they wait for their Statutory Sick Pay to kick in. Many people simply can’t afford to have unpaid time-off so are somewhat forced to continue working through tiredness/triggering/re-traumatisation. Ultimately delaying their recovery.
Effects of insufficient support
- Overworking
We are forced to continue. There is no room to stop and pause because the demand for our services are constant, and are often greater than our capacity.
- Burnout
Overworking, particularly during times of need, leads to burnout of both our employees and the senior leaders who tend to take on the overflow of extra work.
- Sourcing money from other pots
To support our teams in states of burnout and need, particularly in the case of an emergency, we have to use what we have access to. If we don’t have sufficient or flexible funding, we will have no choice but to sometimes use money from our (dwindling) reserves which can cause a knock on effect to our financial stability.
- Talented staff leave
Leaving the industry to repeat its mistakes.