Almost 18 months had passed since the death of the Newcastle worker, but the coroner had yet to hand down her findings. Jack and his senior management team had worked hard with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) when they forgot to notify of the accident with the Newcastle Worker. They had dodged a few bullets, but Jack had led his team back into the black.

During the first year, with the media attention and the coronial inquiry, the business had dipped into the red for the first time in its thirty-five year history. As the CEO, Jack was alarmed, but he also realised that that was the price to be paid for a product failure. Looking back, it was probably a small price to pay, as he could see that this kind of problem could have easily seen overwhelmed a less stable company and sent them insolvent. Thankfully, he had a strong balance sheet to rely on and enough wisdom on the board to guide them through.

At the annual sales meeting at Lakes Entrance, Jack bumped into Brian, his Head of Operations. Unusually, Jack saw Brian make eye contact, but then shuffle away, slouched over with his eyes to the ground. Jack ran over to him.

Brian, how are things? I haven’t seen you for a while. Your team have been doing a great job- this place runs like a machine! I’m 110% confident that we’re back to ship shape!”

Oh… that’s good. Yeah, everyone’s been working hard. Business as usual.” Brian mumbled without enthusiasm.

Brian… are you OK? If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t quite sound your usual self?”

Part of the furniture

Brian had been with the company for 23 years and was part of the furniture. Jack remembered when Brian joined the company: he had finished his apprenticeship and was working on the tools. Eager, bright and hardworking Brian had worked his way up the ladder to head the operations team. The boys on the shop floor respected him, the ladies in the sewing room knew he was always fair and the rest of the management team looked up to him.

So when Jack saw Brian shuffling, downcast and looking like he hadn’t slept for weeks, he knew that something was wrong. But Jack wasn’t quite sure what to do. Like many manufacturing companies, theirs was a pretty rough and tumble environment. Mostly men and women from tough working class backgrounds, people showed their care and affection for their mates by buying a round in the pub or cutting up a work mate a bit of slack if they were having a hard time at home. They weren’t the kind of people who really talked about “feelings”.

Even the good old guys get it

That night when Jack was at home watching TV, he saw Kate Carnell in a TV ad campaign talking about depression and an organisation called BeyondBlue. Jack picked up the iPad and had a look at their website. He was on to something.

The next day during lunch, Jack went for a walk and bumped into Matt, his CFO.

“Matt, how are things? Have you seen Brian by any chance?”

“Actually, I just passed him and he mumbled something about going home. He looked pretty out of it. Didn’t quite seem himself!”

Jack took Matt’s arm and pulled the surprised Matt into a nearby office, shutting the door firmly behind them.

“Matt, this is serious. I think Brian’s got depression. Look at this.” Jack pulled out his smartphone and pulled up the BeyondBlue website. Matt read through the symptoms, a look of dread spreading across his face.

“Jack, if Brian’s got depression or something like that, we have to do something about it. I remember in my last company, a guy made a workers compensation claim for mental stress and he was off work for two months. The thing is, it really hit our bottom line as well, as our workers compensation premiums went through the roof.”

Jack paced the room. What should he do? Then it came to him. “I know, my sister-in-law is a counsellor, maybe she has some ideas. I’ll give her a call right away.” Jack scurried down to his office.

Tough love

Later that day, Jack sat down with Brian. At first Brian was defensive and wouldn’t own up to anything being wrong. But after he saw the continuing concern on Jack’s face, he relented.

“Jack, I’m really sorry. Look, things have been really tough over the past 18 months with the accident, and then the coronial inquiry. When some of the sales guys left, we moved some of my guys over, but you know that ops guys aren’t great sales guys- it’s just not in them. A few of them have been complaining to me, and I’m not sure what I should do. I know we’re not in great financial shape, so I didn’t want to ask for more headcount. The wife’s not been too happy about the hours either.” Brian slumped with his head in his hands.

“Brian, we couldn’t run the company without you. You’re a friend, but I’m also your boss. I’m going to ask you to take four weeks leave- and don’t worry about your pay. I’d like you to see a doctor and see what support you need to get. I’ll give you a call every week to see how you are going. You need to get well.”

“But- ”

“Brian, this is an order!”

Four weeks later, Brian returned. The bounce was back in his step and he was back to rolling up his sleeves. He ambled into Jack’s office on his first day back and plonked himself down.

“Jack, I’m back! Did you miss me?” The old Brian had returned. “You know, mate, I really appreciate you sending me off, although I didn’t like you much for it then. I knew that something was up, but I couldn’t afford to take time off work, you know me. The wife had said something about claiming workers compensation. In the end, the doc had a look at me and sent me off to a shrink, and I’m as good as new!”

Happy endings

It was the least Jack could do to stop himself from grinning like an idiot. Shaking Brian’s hand, he said “Welcome back, Brian. We did miss you.”

A trusted employee back on deck, and no damage to the bottom line. Another bullet dodged.

Melissa Kirby is Legal Director and Strategist at Sharpe & Abel, a law and strategy firm that serves the manufacturing, engineering, infrastructure and technical professions. You can reach her at melissa.kirby@sharpeandabel.com. This article was first published in Safety Snippets.