Children with Anxiety
Sometimes you cross paths with people and it feels like the universe has directly put them in front of you for a reason. I’d like to introduce you to an incredible woman named Frances Williams that I met towards the start of 2023. She has a day job working in a senior HR role and we met when she wanted some support with her LinkedIn activity. But she didn’t want to focus on her own personal branding. Fran had a vision and she wanted to grow her following to get this initiative off the ground.
To support children with anxiety.
Her vision is coming together in ‘WELL GOOD’ - visit the website at wellgood.life
Think Good. Feel Good. Do Good.
Our mission is to empower you to unlock your inner power to achieve anything you set your mind on, through Mindset, Learning, and Kindness.
Well Good is all about supporting children with anxiety. Something that both Fran and I have direct experience of. Sadly this is much more common than we would like to think. Our children are growing up in a very different and difficult world filled with social media, societal expectations and a huge amount of pressure.
Well Good provides resources, support and proactive exercises to help children manage their worries.
When you have a child experiencing anxiety it is hard to know where to turn. I am so thankful that Fran is working hard to bring her idea to life. I have no doubt that Well Good will be invaluable for many young people and their families.
Our role in HR
So what does this have to do with us in HR? Working in HR we deal with all sorts of issues that cross our desk. So how do we respond when a parent comes to us and tells us their child is suffering with anxiety and they need the day off or even the week off?
I can tell you now that whenever a child is poorly, the guilt of not being able to go into work is very real. When the issue is ongoing our worries and feelings of guilt are only amplified. Thankfully, working from home has become more common place and can make it easier, but not everyone has this as an option.
Time Off
The first thing we need to tackle is the time off element. In the UK parents are able to take unpaid dependent leave when they need time off for childcare reasons. I would suspect that if a child is suffering with anxiety this won’t be a one off occasion that the parent needs time off. It would be worth exploring how they can work around the needs of the child. For example, if a child is finding it difficult to go into school in the morning, making the parent late for work, you could talk about whether you are happy to accept that for a period of time or could they potentially make the time up somewhere else. If your culture is that you treat people like adults and they are in control of their own time, flexibility and workload this should make the conversation a bit easier.
Paid or Unpaid Time Off
This will come down to your policy and how much discretion you wish to exercise. Most policies that I have seen would accommodate time off in this situation but the policy would state that it is unpaid. I would suggest that you speak to the employee to understand the extent of the issues and exactly what is going on. I am sure they may have also thought about the financial impact of unpaid time off.
Are they a good performer and someone you want to support and keep in the business? If the answer is yes then you may want to pay them for any time off they are taking. It may be that they just need a few hours in the day to take their child to see a therapist. You could potentially treat the situation like they are the ones with the appointment.
There is no right or wrong in this situation as every business is different, every culture is different and businesses are in different financial positions.
As a HR person all you can do is make sure you understand what flexibility the parent needs, what you can and can’t accommodate as a business and make sure there is frequent communication.
Emotional Support for the Parent
As a parent, we worry about our children. Their health, their happiness and when they are not themselves it weighs on our shoulders and it can impact the whole family. We put on a brave face when we need to and we let the tears come flooding out when it’s appropriate.
If you have an EAP helpline in place for employees please do remind them that it is there. For the times that really need someone to talk to. If you have mental health first aiders in place remind them that they are there.
This will undoubtedly be a difficult time so check in with them on a regular basis.
Well Good Resources
Fran has created some amazing resources that are all available on the website. (Please do check them out so you can signpost people if needed!). There is one that really stands out and that is the ‘A-Z Tips to unlock my inner power’. I really love this because you know what, I think we would all benefit from reading this!
Donations
Well Good is a non profit organisation and is relying on the kindness of strangers and business owners to help fund their initiatives to support as many young people as possible. If you would like to make a contribution, however small, please hit the donate button below. Alternatively, if you work for an organisation that would like to talk about sponsorship and to support in a different way please reach out to Fran directly. CLICK HERE to connect on LinkedIn.