It’s easier to talk about mental health now than when I started my patent career in 1988.
Back then, I had to hide my occasional bouts of depression, either by struggling through or by calling in sick with some invented physical illness. In 2024, thanks to some amazing work from charities such as LawCare (for whom I’m a Champion) and Jonathan’s Voice, I feel able to set an autoreply that says: “I’m struggling so I’m taking time out.”
Individual IP sector organisations have also made great progress in their support for mental health issues, as have some terrific – and brave – role models within them.
But even now, it’s easier to tell a story about your past struggles, since overcome, than it is to say: “I’m going under NOW.” Because the deadlines and the client demands won’t go away. If you stop, they’ll land on someone else's plate. And that person is already stressed too.
This is what often prevented me from looking after my mental health, from taking time out, turning down a few requests, and postponing commitments. I didn’t want to leave others in the lurch.
In professional services, trust is paramount. And the bedrock of trust is reliability. We want always to be there for our clients and colleagues. We want always to be able to meet their requests. We can’t let them down.
At IP Inclusive we know that many IP professionals feel unable to seek help when they’re struggling.
Our surveys with Jonathan’s Voice showed that those who suffer from stress, anxiety, or depression often don’t take time off to deal with it. The impact on colleagues and clients, alongside high workloads and ever-increasing backlogs, is cited as a key reason.
At the heart of this are fundamental issues with our working practices. A typical IP professional simply has too much to do. They’re already working at maximum capacity. Often they’re the only person able to deal with a particular client or case. And the constant deadlines and client pressures leave little wiggle room for reacting to mental – or indeed physical – health crises.
It’s no wonder that LawCare’s 2020-21 Life in the Law survey revealed that many in the legal (including IP) sector are at significant risk of burn-out. This is dangerous for both our people and our businesses.
What to do?
So, what to do? – Well, plenty of our sector’s employers have mental health policies. They say lovely things about employee assistance programmes, training, support networks, mental health first aiders, mindfulness and exercise and fresh air.
I’m not knocking these things. But you know what would be really valuable? – A contingency plan. A section of the policy that says: ‘This is what we’ll do if someone needs time out for their mental wellbeing’.
Employers should give their staff permission to prioritise mental health and the reassurance that when they do, they won’t in the process be responsible for damaging the business, its client relationships, and their colleagues’ workloads.
How about giving everyone in the team an “understudy”, who can take on at least some of their cases because they’ve shared files and updates? Someone who doesn’t themselves have so much work that they can’t step in to help? How about giving every client at least two points of contact, reinforcing confidence in the team as a whole rather than just one, over-burdened professional?
It takes courage to build a system with spare capacity. Who wants reduced profits? But in the longer term, these types of businesses will flourish. Staff are more productive if they’re less stressed; they do better, less error-prone work; they take less time off sick. These people have the bandwidth to support one another, strengthening the whole team. They stay with you longer and importantly, they are valuable ambassadors when you’re trying to recruit.
If you’re in a leadership or management role, use this World Mental Health Day to think about workload management. Yes, do the training and support stuff too. But make sure your staff have the time, the energy, and the confidence to use it.
