Employee’s wife has post-partum depression: how to help?

Roughly one in 10 women will experience postpartum depression after giving birth. It’s a debilitating condition that affects many families across the UK. It often leaves women feeling overwhelmed, with a lack of energy to carry out childcare responsibilities.

So, unsurprisingly, the father – or other legal guardian – will often want to do more to support their partner during this time.

However, employees have no specific rights to support their partner through post-partum depression. How you choose to support these employees, then, is really up to you.

But while you have no legal obligations, consider the burden your employee is carrying. They are likely to be stressed, worried, and wanting to spend more time with their family. So simply saying “I can’t do anything, sorry” will leave your employee feeling neglected, and seriously impact their wellbeing and capability at work.

Instead, consider supporting your employee by…

Encouraging them to use extra parental leave

When mothers struggle with postpartum depression, they might find parenting responsibilities overwhelming.

This means that their partner may want to take leave – beyond their standard paternity allowance – to help look after their child. They can do that using unpaid parental leave.

If your employee has worked for you for at least a year, they’re legally entitled to a maximum of 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave – up until their child’s eighteenth birthday.

An employee should take this time off in weekly blocks (i.e. one or two weeks off), rather than individual days. If your employee has a child with a disability, however, they can use the time off in blocks of one day or half a day. Parents can take up to four weeks off per year.

So, if your employee asks for time off to help with childcare, you could highlight this as a potential option.

Allowing the employee to work remotely

If taking unpaid leave isn’t possible for your employee, working from home could be a better option.

It might be that your employee’s partner needs emotional support or physical supervision. Allowing your employee to work from home allows them to stay nearby to provide care when necessary. This will also help reduce anxiety around being unavailable when their partner needs urgent support.

If you don’t have a working from home policy, use your discretion to allow your employee to work remotely.

This might be trickier for certain roles. You might need to temporarily change your employee’s duties to ones that are easier to carry out from home.

Being flexible and accommodating

Whether your employee is working from home or in the workplace, their mind isn’t going to be 100% on the job.

Plus, they might need to take sporadic time off to attend doctor’s appointments, assist with household tasks, or speak to their partner.

Try to be understanding that your employee may need longer or more frequent breaks as a result. And you might want to allow your employee to stagger their hours or take a longer lunch to attend medical appointments or visit home.

When your employee knows that you’re understanding about time off, you take away additional stress or worry during this tough time. The last thing your employee needs during this time is extra pressure from their boss.

Using an employee assistance programme

If your employee is supporting a loved one through postpartum depression, they’re going through an emotionally difficult time.

It’s likely that they’re worried about what each day will bring. Unlike a physical illness, there’s also no sense of when symptoms might improve. This uncertainty and worry will take its toll.

Consider using an employee assistance programme (EAP) to provide your employee with professional counselling. This will give your employee access to confidential and third-party support, from trained experts.

Many employee assistance programmes are staffed with both medical experts and therapists. So whether your employee needs reassurance after a tough day or medical assistance, an EAP will offer the support they need.

This should help your employee manage their own wellbeing during this difficult time.

Regularly checking in

One of the most important things you can do is remain patient and understanding during this time.

While your employee’s home life is in turmoil, try to make sure their work life is as stress-free as possible. So, take extra care over their workload and allocate easier tasks.

You also arrange regular check-ins to see how your employee is feeling. Ask whether you can do anything to support them and carefully consider any requests.

When an employee knows they have your support, they view your business as an attractive long-term option to develop their career. Mutual respect is an important foundation for any employer to build long-lasting and happy workforce.

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