Protecting employee mental health through integrity in leadership

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 (May 12th to May 18th), Careerminds is investigating how HR teams can lead with integrity through periods of uncertainty. This is the last in a series of three articles, and this time we’re looking at how integrity in leadership can safeguard mental health during periods of organisational change.

Major organisational change, whether due to retrenchments or restructures, can have a significant impact on employees across the business – whether they’re directly affected by the changes or not. Job insecurity, financial concerns, low morale, anxiety, and stress combine to create the perfect conditions for a mental health emergency. Integrity in leadership throughout this period of change can alleviate some of the symptoms.

Integrity in leadership means acting ethically, honestly, and consistently, in line with personal, social, and company values. Leadership integrity brings benefits for everyone: 

• For the leader: Career progression depends on character as much as competence. Additionally, leaders who are seen as trustworthy, honest, and respectful are more able to build loyal and committed teams. 
• For the employees: Employees are more likely to be engaged, with lower stress and less anxiety, if they feel that they can trust their leaders to do what’s right. 
• For the business: Leaders with integrity build productive workforces who are more likely to act with integrity themselves. Such teams also have fewer sick days and are more likely to advocate for the company. 

The impact of retrenchment or restructure is wide-ranging and can include:

• Anxiety: Employees may feel anxious about the stability of their job and financial pressures. 
• Burnout: Employees who survive retrenchment exercises may feel overwhelmed and burnt out by the process and the extra work they’ve had to take on.
• Low self-esteem: Loss of a job can also result in the loss of identity and self-worth.
• Depression: Feelings of overwhelm and hopelessness can lead to difficulty with day-to-day functioning.
• Grief: Employees can grieve for the loss of the job, professional identity, and financial stability.
• Shame: Employees may feel they’re being let go for underperforming, or for not performing as well as their colleagues. 

When organisational change is in progress, employees can feel like they’re not in control of their career or their life. Disruption and uncertainty can affect their emotional wellbeing, not just impacting their productivity and motivation, but potentially leading to longer term damage to their health and the reputation of the business. 

Business leaders and HR teams can minimise these impacts by prioritising open, honest communication that builds trust. Where trust exists within a business, employees are more likely to stay engaged, resulting in lower stress, better morale, and increased productivity. 

Business leaders have the culture of the business and the welfare of their employees in their hands. It’s not a responsibility to be taken lightly. These guidelines will help to ensure businesses prioritise ethical leadership: 

• Maintain honest communication: Even if you don’t have all the answers, communicating openly and transparently fosters trust.
• Stay true to company values: When major change is in progress, it can be easy to lose sight of what the business truly values. Regularly reflecting on business priorities, not just in terms of profit but in terms of values and culture, means employees know where they stand and can trust leaders to behave accordingly. 
• Actively listen: Listening and responding to employee concerns and feedback can build trust and confidence, when it’s done with honesty and empathy. 
• Be available: Maintaining a visible and approachable presence, rather than hiding away in a corner office, gives employees the opportunity to ask questions and gain reassurance. 
• Address concerns: Avoiding difficult conversations doesn’t engender trust or respect. However difficult, respond clearly and promptly to points raised by staff. 
• Be consistent: Knowing what to expect is reassuring. Consistency in messaging is crucial in fostering a positive, trusting culture. 
• Honour commitments: Words must translate into actions. Saying one thing and doing another is unlikely to win trust and respect. 
• Admit mistakes: Everyone messes up sometimes – admitting and rectifying mistakes, rather than sweeping them under the carpet, shows that you’re a leader who values honesty.

Change is unavoidable – it’s how you deal with it that will be remembered. When the need for restructuring and retrenchment arises, mental health issues are likely to increase among the workforce. One way of mitigating those issues is by providing outplacement services. 

Outplacement firms support your HR teams through transitions by providing individual employees with practical and emotional support to navigate the change. In practical terms, that can mean writing impactful CVs and LinkedIn profiles, providing interview preparation support, and offering guidance on potential new roles. 

From a wellbeing perspective, outplacement can benefit employee mental health by providing an all-important listening ear, career coaching and guidance, and emotional support. Outplacement coaches work with programme participants to keep them positive, motivated, and moving forward. This not only enables them to move quickly into a new, meaningful role, but builds their confidence and resilience to protect their mental health. 

Providing outplacement services to staff impacted by retrenchment proves leadership commitment to employee welfare and shows that the company truly lives its values. 

At Careerminds, our outplacement coaches work with programme participants “until placement” – that means they have someone by their side throughout their job search, reducing the mental load, providing support throughout the transition, and minimising stress. With a 99% participant satisfaction rate and a 95% placement rate, it’s easy to see why businesses choose to partner with us during times of upheaval. 

The impact of unplanned career change on employee mental health cannot be underestimated. Protecting staff wellbeing through leadership integrity isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s an ethical and commercial necessity. 

By prioritising open, honest, and transparent communication, business leaders and HR teams can maintain the mental health and wellbeing of their staff whilst protecting the reputation of the business and upholding its core values.

Outplacement services are a supportive way of guiding employees through challenging transitions – contact Careerminds today to find out if we’re the right partner for your business.

Jen David

Jen is a careers writer and CV specialist, with many years’ experience writing for leading careers platforms and her own business, CV Shed. She loves to support job seekers in progressing their careers, whether they’re looking to step up the ladder, take a sideways move, or change career entirely. She writes attention-grabbing CVs that show off her clients’ expertise and their value to a business, helping them to secure new roles quickly.

Jen also writes SEO blog content on a wide range of careers topics, for clients in the UK, US, Singapore and Australia. She has produced over 300 articles to date and also edits the work of other writers. She maintains her own blog to support job-seekers with up-to-date, best practice information on CVs, LinkedIn profiles and other related topics, and has a book available on Amazon Kindle, How to write a CV for the modern job market.