What role should HR play in suicide prevention?

Over the years I’ve heard ‘you’ll need to ask HR’ so many times – whether it’s a hiring decision, a wellbeing issue or even whether ‘that’ was appropriate dress for the workplace. HR seem to be expected to answer all the difficult questions that other managers can’t – or are uncomfortable to handle.

This headline this morning got me thinking – is suicide prevention now another job we’re dumping on HR?

Over the years, my experience has been that mainly HR and some H&S folks invite me in to run mental health awareness and suicide intervention training, but HR and H&S can’t be everywhere. Every manager has people who trust them, confide in them – shouldn’t suicide prevention be everyone’s responsibility?

The last thing you’d want is to lose a member of your staff to suicide simply because everyone looked to HR to arrange the training and create a more suicide aware workplace and didn’t engage and take responsibility for this too. Trust me, the loss of that life would have ripples right across your business for months, if not years, afterwards.

The BSI standards give us a solid framework to work with, and I can help you develop the skill and confidence to have conversations that can save lives. Let’s make this EVERYONE’s job, not just expect HR to do the right thing.

https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1944226/role-hr-play-suicide-prevention