7 Incredible Ways to Promote Mental Health in the Workplace. #7 is our favourite!
Mental health is often overlooked when factoring in workplace productivity. In contrast, according to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, businesses in Canada lose over $20 billion in losses due to mental illness, costing businesses an average of $1,500 per employee.
Employee and family assistant healthcare plans don’t always cover mental health issues. Considering the working class is already struggling, visiting a psychologist, or getting therapy is out of the question for many. Mental health issues when left unaddressed can severely affect workplace productivity, affect the health of an organization and can be potentially hazardous to the culture of an organization.
Improving the mental health of employees not only benefits the organization but more importantly the individual on a personal level. Additionally, a healthy organization is a well-performing organization and the first step in this direction is to identify any mental health issues noticeable in your employees.
Almost one in every five people in the US suffers from a mental health condition every year, as per a census by National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI). Unfortunately, most of these go unnoticed. To help employees with their mental health issues, one must be able to identify them.
Over a dozen conditions, such as depression, anxiety, stress are highly prevalent in workplaces, and the symptoms of these vary from person to person. However, it’s helpful to know a few common behaviours that would indicate the presence of any mental health issues. You can look for,
Recurrent unusual behavior
Decline in productivity
Irresponsibility with work or compromised work ethic
Lack of participation, especially in meetings
Increase in absence
Irritation or negative attitude
It’s important to remember that this isn’t a full-fledged checklist- it’s the least you should be on the lookout for. On observing any of the symptoms, take some time to check in with your employee. If a previously high performing team member is no longer high performing something is wrong. Something as simple as asking “how are you?” or “you don’t see to be yourself today, do you have time for a short break?” can make a world of difference to someone who is struggling. Further assistance, such as resource materials or articles like this one can demonstrate that their manager cares about them. Additionally, encouraging time off like taking a mental health day, can also be provided to ensure that the employee recovers as soon as possible.
“you don’t seem to be yourself today, do you have time for a short break?”
While it’s a helpful practice, you shouldn’t rely on noticing symptoms to open conversations about mental health. There are multiple ways to promote conversations about the subject, the most practical of them are mentioned below.
Reduce stigma
Train supervisors & managers
Look beyond physical healthcare
Recognize and promote work-life balance
Clear job expectations
Encourage physical activity
Develop empathy
Promoting mental health in the workplace
Reduce Stigma
Over the course of the last decade, the attention mental health has received is applaudable, but the stigma around the topic is far from gone. Because mental health awareness is a fairly recent occurrence, key word being awareness, people have a lot of misconceptions about it and therefore choose not to bring it up for discussion. In a work environment, this is extremely unhealthy as it creates a culture where talking about mental health is frowned upon.
The obvious step an organization should take is to reduce, and possibly eradicate the stigma around mental health. This can be done when authority figures, such as managers and leaders, have candid conversations about mental health in the office. Leaders need to be vulnerable themselves, open up about their struggles and feelings, and create an environment where talks about mental health are not only encouraged but highly appreciated. Such honest conversations will create a safe space & empower employees to share their stories, emotions, and situation. Naturally, a culture of acceptance will develop where people won’t have the fear of being judged, consequently creating a healthy and productive work setting.
Finally, it’s important to remember that the primary reason employees are hesitant in asking for help is fear of discrimination and judgement. When a workplace abolishes such behaviours, employees feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts, resulting in a healthy workplace free of stigma and shame.
Train supervisors & managers
Supervisors and managers are the only people in an organization who are in direct contact with the employees. It’s therefore crucial that the people in management positions are well educated on the topic of mental health. It’s the organization’s responsibility that these professionals are properly educated. Of course, they don’t need to know all the ins and outs of the topic, but they should at least be in a position where they can direct anyone in distress to an appropriate course of action.
Managers can be taught to recognize potential warning signs. Examine whether the work environment is triggering in any way. If yes, ensure that no aspect of the work setting is specifically intimidating. Along with this, the organization can also provide educational material such as books, videos, and pamphlets to maximize the understanding of mental health in the organization. You can also solicit the support of organizations who deliver mental health awareness programs like Abridge Consulting. The founder, Tara Adams has one goal in mind, to get more people, more help, sooner.
It is also important to ensure that the employee feels valued, managers should incentivize good work, with something as little as a casual appreciation. This supports a positive relationship, both among the employees and the managers.
Look beyond physical healthcare
As a responsible and caring organization, one must offer employee benefits that ensures easy access for mental health support. These benefits may include health insurance for mental health counselling and treatments, regular conferences, formation of support groups, mental health resources, and the liberty to take “mental health days”- as a leave of absence from work.
Recognize and promote work-life balance
While we think of work to be done in an office, many employees carry some work home to deal with the heavy workload. Not just that, they show up early to work and leave later than the required time, oftentimes to prove their dedication. They then receive praise or titles like “employee of the month”. In short, these organizations are missing the boat in terms of promoting more work-life balance. Time away from work is very important to recharge and feel ready to face another challenging workday. As leaders it is very important to create an environment where stepping away from work is encouraged. You can do this in a number of ways:
No emails after regular business hours
Meeting-free morning - one morning a day a week block calendars for email and admin work
Schedule regular check-in calls with each team member to simply say hello, how are you?
Employers must pay special attention to ensure that the workplace culture supports a healthy balance between their work-life & their personal life. Firstly, employees should be allowed to take mental health days. Secondly, if possible, the work time should be flexible. As long as the objectives of a job are being met, the employee should be allowed to work at their will. Working remotely is also an option worth considering. Third, an employee should be allowed to take vacations at their will. To be productive, it’s important to unwind. After a relaxing vacation, one can function much better. And lastly, an employer should not expect an employee to be available round the clock.
Clear Job expectations
Unclear job descriptions or excessive work input are common causes of distress. A new employee must be briefed in detail about the exact job they will be performing. Employees should be provided with clear job objectives & frequent reviews, along with any help required to benefit their work. Additionally, when checking in with your team members, consider the capacity of each individual and how challenged they are in their role. The illustration below demonstrates the relationship between challenge and capacity. It is important to note that no two people are the same when it comes to workload and the support, tools, or resources they may need to be effective in their role. Too much challenge and too little capacity sets your employee up for burn-out.
The Career Engagement model below, developed by Neault & Pickerell (2011), describes the dynamic relationship between challenge and capacity.
Source: Life Strategies Ltd.
Appreciation of a good job is equally as important. Let an employee know that they’ve done a good job. This way your employees will get the much-needed motivation to do their work and won’t feel neglected.
Encourage physical activity
Many studies have proven that physical health has a direct impact on a person's mental health, and therefore it’s very important to stay active. While workplaces don’t make the best fit for physical activity, an organization can encourage employees to take a walk after lunch breaks, at the very minimum. Additionally, they can also provide free gym passes so that the employees have an incentive to exercise. A generally healthy person is expected to have a relatively healthy mind. When you encourage your employees to improve and maintain their physical health, you can expect an increase in work productivity in no time.
Develop empathy
While we leverage technical, quantifiable skills to increase profit, empathy as a skill is often overlooked. The relation isn’t direct, but it’s been proven that when leaders in a workplace are emphatic, there is a significant rise in workplace productivity and therefore more profit. The primary cause of mental issues in the workplace is stress. Due to this people have feelings of anxiety, lack of concentration and compromised judgement. And not just that, this stress also affects the quality of sleep severely, consequently leading to irritation the next day. And this can cause an environment of conflict at work, which later goes on to affect the personal life of employees. It’s a recurrent cycle and one way to mitigate it is for leaders to practice empathy.
Before we understand how leaders should go about it, let’s first see how practicing empathy can be helpful.
When leaders are empathic, employees feel more connected to the workplace
Empathy allows for a space of free thought where new perspectives are encouraged
When a workplace is inclusive, employees are happy with their workplace thus increasing employee retention
When employees are in an empathetic environment, they radiate the same empathy to their colleagues, creating a positive work environment.
The best way for leaders to practise empathy is to simply listen. As a leader paying attention to your employees is key to building a long-standing relationship. This is no different than any other relationship, be it personal or professional. In short, be present for your team. Along with that, leaders should prioritize checking in with their employees on a regular basis. And not just inquire, but comfort them through any stressful situations and ask how you can help. Having someone to talk to can be incredibly helpful for employees, especially when they aren’t intimidated by authority.
Empathy is a very inherent human trait, and although some of us are more empathic than others, it is a skill one can develop. To be a good leader, one must show empathy. This not only makes for a better workplace but also makes us a better person. You can find more ways to practice empathy offered by the Canadian Mental Heath Association.
Summary
Mental health is not something to be taken lightly. It is also really important to understand boundaries as a leader. Know that you are not fully responsible for your team’s well-being. Educating yourself, being available for your team and providing resources is a good place to start. The Canadian Mental Health Association offers some great resources.