Lisa Oakley from People Associates says the lines between manager and counsellor are becoming increasingly blurred.
How do leaders support mental health at work without becoming therapists, and what role does the workplace environment really play in wellbeing?
In this episode of HR Unlocked, Lisa Oakley sits down with Nikki Leske, Chief People & Culture Officer at Comvita, to explore mental health, psychosocial risk, leadership, and the foundations of a healthy workplace.
With extensive global experience leading people functions across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, Nikki shares a practical and refreshingly simple perspective on wellbeing. Rather than focusing on wellness initiatives and perks, she argues that great workplaces are built on strong leadership, clear communication, meaningful connection, and getting the basics right.
The conversation explores everything from psychosocial hazards and psychological safety to hybrid work, burnout, feedback, performance management, and the future role of AI in the workplace.
What You'll Learn
- What psychosocial risk means and why employers need to pay attention
- How leaders can support mental health without becoming counsellors or clinicians
- Why workplace environment has a greater impact on wellbeing than many organisations realise
- The role communication and connection play in hybrid and remote workplaces
- How to create meaningful one-on-one conversations with employees
- Why performance management should never come as a surprise
A manager begins the morning reviewing sales and ends it helping an employee through a disclosure about family violence, financial distress or a mental health crisis.
They are then expected back at the budget meeting, as though the conversation required no time, emotional effort or specialist judgment.
We increasingly ask managers to be coaches, counsellors, conflict resolvers and first responders to distress. Sometimes, the expectation comes close to asking them to act as therapists.
Many are barely resourced for the management job they were employed to do.
Part of this change is welcome. People do not leave grief, housing pressure or relationship breakdown outside the workplace. Those circumstances can affect attendance, concentration and safety. A humane employer should acknowledge that.
But acknowledging someone’s difficulty does not give a manager the expertise to resolve it. My concern is that we have expanded managers’ emotional responsibilities without redesigning their jobs.
A technically capable employee becomes a supervisor, attends a leadership course and is suddenly expected to receive sensitive disclosures, recognise risk and know when professional help is needed.
For entrepreneurs and small business owners, the pressure can be particularly personal. There may be no human resources (HR) team or employee assistance programme. The owner may know the employee’s family and feel responsible for keeping them well, while also managing cashflow and their own family pressures.
A lack of specialist support does not remove the need. It leaves the nearest available person trying to meet it.
WorkSafe’s guidance on psychosocial risks identifies high emotional demands as a potential work risk. That makes support for managers an issue of how work is organised, rather than simply whether an individual is caring enough.
Managers still have an important role. They can listen respectfully, consider immediate safety concerns and discuss appropriate workplace adjustments.
They should know where to seek advice and how to connect an employee with qualified support. They also need to explain the limits of confidentiality before making promises they cannot keep.
That role does not extend to diagnosing a condition, providing therapy or assuming responsibility for another adult’s recovery. The same manager may later need to address attendance or performance. Clear boundaries protect both people from confusion about the relationship.
Through my HR Unlocked podcast, I want to keep asking who supports the people everyone else turns to. The answer needs to include practical help: an identified referral service, access to confidential advice and a clear route for urgent situations.
Training should help managers recognise their limits as well as improve their conversations.
Time matters too. After a demanding disclosure, someone may need to arrange support, record necessary information and recover their concentration. If the organisation expects that work, it should decide what other work can wait. Compassion cannot depend indefinitely on a manager’s lunch break or evening.
Smaller employers may need shared or external support rather than a large internal programme. HR professionals need support too, including opportunities to discuss difficult work appropriately and access specialist advice.
Care belongs in leadership. Unlimited emotional availability should not be the price of being considered a good manager. The people supporting others should not have to reach their own crisis before their work is recognised and properly resourced.
Lisa Oakley is the founder and director of People Associates and host of the HR Unlocked podcast.
