Article: Prioritising mental health: A guide to building supportive work cultures

Employee Engagement

Prioritising mental health: A guide to building supportive work cultures

Creating a supportive workplace: Practical steps to prioritise mental health and build resilience for employees.
Prioritising mental health: A guide to building supportive work cultures

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 15% of working adults live with mental disorders. It further states that 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety, which costs the global economy $1 trillion in lost productivity. It is no surprise that the call to action of the World Economic Forum this year is ‘Build Resilient and Healthy Workplaces’. However, How can organisations translate this into meaningful action in today’s complex, ambiguous, and ever-evolving environment?

With mounting pressures, global uncertainty, and a global pandemic still fresh in our minds, the constant need to keep up in a hyper-connected world is imperative. The constant daily struggles faced by new entrants to the workforce, ageing employees, working parents, caregivers, remote workers, and those living away from family highlight the urgent need for support, resilience and adaptable solutions. So, what can organisations do to help? The answer is not as complex as it might seem. Keeping it simple is the key. Organisations must go back to the basics of open communication, safe workspaces, a culture of respect and inclusion, and judgement-free opportunities to seek help and support as needed.

Listed below are some simple steps organisations can take to support a healthier, more resilient workforce:

Be proactive instead of reactive: Covid had far-reaching consequences on efforts around mental wellbeing in the organised sector. Remote working-induced loneliness coupled with pandemic-linked anxiety has led organisations to broaden the scope of their employee wellbeing programmes beyond just physical wellbeing. Encourage employees to take a proactive approach to mental wellbeing, whereby individuals are enabled to seek more information about mental health and the options that are available in case they explore them to address linked issues.

Create safe workspaces: Allow individuals the opportunity to contribute at work. Being able to contribute meaningfully at work is an important contributor to mental wellbeing since it gives individuals confidence, a purpose to work towards, and a sense of achievement.

Employee assistance programmes: Offer programmes that ensure complete anonymity to employees to seek help or just try to process what they are feeling via conversation with qualified experts and follow-up sessions as needed. Help destigmatise mental health. Over-communicate about the options, resources, and tools available to employees under the programme. Guarantee confidentiality.

Expand the definition of health: Add a psychological consult as part of the annual health check-up offered to employees. This is a low-cost, high-impact approach to normalising mental health conversations.

Expert speaker sessions: Organising expert speaker sessions on mental health as part of employee wellbeing programmes is a must. This not only helps initiate a healthy dialogue around commonly faced mental issues but also enables employees to feel safe and ‘ok’ about what they might be going through, making it much easier to seek help.

Offer ‘no-question-asked’ leave: Organisations offering ‘no-questions-asked’ leave allow employees to seek time out to address mental health challenges without the fear of judgment or explanation. Despite the increased conversation around mental health, it is still considered a ‘taboo’, and allowing individuals time to process what they are going through while reminding them of all the tools and resources they have access to, to navigate through the situation, is key.

Listen and act: Offer employees multiple platforms to speak up and share any concerns or situations that are creating work-induced stress or anxiety. Seek feedback from employees and act on it. Once surfaced, issues must be resolved.

Build a culture that encourages a sense of belonging: Set up inclusion networks that allow individuals from similar backgrounds to come together and support each other. Offer mentorship opportunities to employees, allowing them to learn from someone who has been in their shoes. Encourage mutual respect and appreciation for diversity. All these initiatives help build a sense of community and foster conversations, instilling a sense of belonging, thereby positively impacting mental health.

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Topics: Employee Engagement, Culture, #Wellbeing

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