# Workplace Surgery Q3: My employee disclosed their depression

- **Episode:** [174](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/174.md) (2025-02-25)
- **Type:** workplace-surgery
- **Tags:** mental-health, depression, disclosure, support
- **Time:** 42:47–48:00 (start 2567s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/174?t=2567](https://truthliesandwork.com/174?t=2567)

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[42:47] Al Elliott: Hope it works out for you. Let us know. Let us know. Okay, so question number 3. My employee disclosed their depression to me, but now what? What do I do? One of my direct reports has become increasingly withdrawn and their performance is slipping. In a recent one-to-one, They disclose they're dealing with depression but don't want anyone else to know. I want to be supportive, but I'm also concerned about team deadlines and fairness to others picking up the slack. So how do I balance this?
[43:18] Leanne Elliott: You are not a therapist. You're a manager. You are not a mental health professional. You are not a medical professional. You are a people manager. It's wonderful that this person felt able to disclose that. condition to you, but within your constraints as a manager, you need to be able to provide an environment in the best way you can that's going to support that person to get better, to get help, and to continue to, to work effectively. Because the alternative is, if they don't, that's going to potentially put them on a spiral that could be really, really devastating. Um, so I think first of all, it's saying to this person that, um, You know that you, you appreciate that they've felt comfortable enough to disclose this to you, that ultimately this isn't within your area of expertise, but you absolutely want to hold a space for them and help them find the right support out there. Um, and go in with some knowledge. Know the services you have available within your organization, the signposting that you can do. Take it a step back further if you don't know that. Um, you know, say to your this member of staff, you're going to speak to HR confidentially, not necessarily naming names, about where these different support services can come from, what support is available just to a member of staff, um, feeling this way or experiencing this mental illness. And I think that's the thing, we have to take this as this is, this is depression, this is becoming debilitating, this is impacting somebody's everyday life. It's not just a case of being sad or down or blue. Depression is a mental illness, um, which can escalate and really Devastating ways. So I think that's the first thing really is go back to that person and say, I understand that this is a difficult thing to share, but for us to move forward effectively in the best possible way, I need to be able to share this with certain people who will maintain this confidentiality in terms of HR, in terms of occupational health. Know the services that you have available within your organisation that you can signpost to and be very clear about how those services work. What the help available will be and how that will interact with their role. And I think finally is taking then any advice you have in terms of your HR department, who you work with, whether that's in-house or outsourced, in terms of what your legal obligations are. What other support might be available to this person in terms of leave, whether it be in terms of of, uh, paid annual leave, non-paid leave, or sickness pay. Really just anything else that you can draw on, the expertise that you can draw on. Because I go back to my first point, you're not a therapist, you're not a mental health professional, you're not a medical professional. It's wonderful this person felt comfortable to do that. Your responsibility now as a manager, your ethical legal responsibility as a manager, is to help this person find the right support that they need to get better, get well
[46:08] Al Elliott: Yeah
[46:08] Leanne Elliott: And stay in work
[46:10] Al Elliott: Fabulous answer, Leigh. I think, um, what you said at the beginning, you said something like, uh, one of my direct reports has become increasingly withdrawn. Um, if you've noticed that, there's a very good chance that the rest of the team have. Um, there's a very good chance that they think, well, they'd be like, yeah, you know, this person is not the same as they used to be. Perhaps they're struggling a little bit. So I don't— I'm not suggesting for a second you talk to your team about this, but You worrying about— yeah, go on, sorry, Leanne
[46:37] Leanne Elliott: No, go on
[46:38] Al Elliott: I was gonna say, you worrying about, um, about your, uh, you know, how you— how your team going to feel? Do they feel like it's not fair? They probably already know, and they're probably already making some kind of, um, adjustments
[46:50] Leanne Elliott: They might. It all depends. People withdraw in different ways, don't they? It might be that there's a bit of resentment coming from the team depending on how this person's starting to withdraw. It could be that there's empathy and understanding there. It could be that they feel it's quite obvious what's happening. The other thing I'd say as well is just, just, you can't keep this to yourself because it's not your responsibility. It's not within your, your area of responsibility, but also it can potentially leave you really vulnerable. Bearing in mind that this is a mental illness, and as you say, people withdraw, people become defensive, people react, people will want to, in certain circumstances, find people to blame
[47:28] Al Elliott: Yeah
[47:29] Leanne Elliott: And the reality is that that could be you, and it could be unfounded, and it could be an accusation that doesn't have any substance or foundation or evidence, but that could escalate a whole process. And I've seen it happen, and it's devastating to the people involved. So really, it's about protecting yourself as well. You need to take this to your HR. You need to have this conversation with this individual, and you need to put a plan in place to put in as much support structured support, formal support in place for this person if possible