Wellbeing crisis | Managers are vital in combatting poor mental health, but the current system is broken

As you likely know only too well, the HR function isn’t an island.

It isn’t a separate entity, floating on the edge of a business encouraging people to change their actions or work a certain way, HR is deeply embedded in the roots of the business. That also goes for HR initiatives. It takes everyone within the organisation to buy into what HR does, and truly carry out what HR orchestrates. This is how 90% of HR’s remit succeeds.

This also means that the relationship between line managers and HR has to be incredibly strong. Line managers are HR’s ‘front line’, if you will. As the person the employee speaks to most, the line manager is well placed to be the one to live and breathe HR’s values, but also be aware when something isn’t right, and work with HR to rectify it.

Without this inviolable bond between HR and the line manager, the system breaks down. And it’s this issue that we’re getting into today, because by all accounts, it seems that in most organisations, it has broken down.