Support people through good management

Use a simple recurring structure covering workload, wellbeing, support and agreed follow-up, while leaving space for the employee’s priorities.

Schedule conversations often enough to identify changes early and record any action or support that has been agreed.

Encourage brief contact between formal meetings, particularly during demanding periods, changes or when someone is working remotely.

Make informal contact part of everyday management while allowing people privacy and avoiding repeated pressure to talk.

Use open questions, listen without immediately trying to solve the issue and agree what, if anything, should happen next.

Provide guidance on possible signs, conversation skills, confidentiality, signposting and situations requiring additional or urgent help.

Ensure anyone directing another person’s work receives basic guidance and knows who can provide further advice.

Agree how information will be shared, make time for questions and check understanding rather than assuming a message has been received.

Include these behaviours in management expectations, supervision and feedback so they are applied consistently rather than depending on personality.

Agree basic day-to-day standards for listening, fairness and follow-up that are realistic for the organisation’s size and structure.