Line Manager Training
In a climate where workforce wellbeing is increasingly linked to organisational risk, culture, and sustainability, the question for Australian people leaders is no longer whether to invest in management capability – but how quickly. Strong leaders don’t need to be clinicians.
Line Managers are the primary on the ground control for PsychoSocial risk. They need to be empowered with the confidence, language and frameworks to act early, listen well, and lead with care. Managers often struggle to discuss mental health with staff. It’s a skill set that is no longer a nice to have. Managers play a pivotal role – but many don’t feel equipped It’s a leadership capability.
At HCB Australia, we realise that is can sometimes be difficult to support people experiencing ill-health or barriers faced by disabled people. Individual performance may deteriorate, and the individual may not feel comfortable or be able to explain the reason. Often, this may be compounded by line managers or supervisors not having the confidence, capability or even the expectation to be able to discuss this with their staff and make changes to accommodate and support them to stay in or return to work. It can also be hard for a line manager to discern what is going on. On occasion, people ‘just disappear’ and submit a fit note a week later.
What does HCB Australia offer to support line managers?
HCB Australia will assist a business to give context to the importance of absence reporting and to equip people leaders with the tools to have the confidence to engage a team member in an empathetic and constructive way.
What is the benefit of HCB Australia delivered training support?
Over a third of small business leaders admitted they hesitate to discuss mental health with their teams. In medium-sized businesses, that figure rises to nearly half. The consequence? Missed opportunities for early intervention and support, higher absence rates, and preventable performance issues. This is where management training becomes a strategic investment, not merely a compliance exercise.
When leaders are trained to…
- Recognise early signs of distress
- Have confident, respectful conversations
- Understand their legal and ethical responsibilities
- And connect people to appropriate support
…Outcomes improve! For people and performance and the business
Key impacts – To create the awareness of the business and cost implications of unmanaged team member absence
- Morale
- Productivity, service disruptions, Quality of output
- WPH&S PsychoSocial hazard management compliance
- Business costs both direct and indirect
Early Intervention
- Reinforces trust in you as a leader
- Mitigates and reduces long term absenteeism
- Improves employee wellbeing
The Line Manager’s role
- Recognise
- Support
- Refer
The traditional Occupational Health approach delivery of Early Intervention is helpful but reactive. The HCB Group Earlier Intervention service is proactive and aims to create awareness and then bridge the gap between awareness and action and engage the employee potentially before they have even considered being absent from the workplace and before the issue can be medicalised as happens with the traditional model.
Reach out to HCB Australia to discuss the merits of Earlier Intervention and the support services offered
The traditional Occupational Health approach delievery of, Early Intervention is helpful but reactive. The HCB Group Earlier Intervention service is proactive and aims to create awareness and then bridge the gap between awareness and action and engage the employee potentially before they have even considered being absent from the workplace and before the issue can be medicalised as happens with the traditional model. Reach out to HCB Australia to discuss the merits of Earlier Intervention and the support services offered.
