How to improve mental health and wellbeing in your workplace

Many organisations currently fall short when it comes to supporting employee mental health and wellbeing. There are, however, several ways to do so that not only help to create a mentally healthy environment but also a workplace that employees want to fully participate in.
Benefits of supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace
There is also a growing moral case that the cultivation of a workplace environment that supports mental health and wellbeing should be considered part of an employer’s ethical responsibility particularly when we consider how prevalent mental health issues are.
Aside from the ethical duty employers have to their employees, there are financial implications too. Internationally, the World Health Organisation estimates that depression and anxiety issues cost the global economy $1 trillion a year in lost productivity. Meanwhile, shorter periods of sick leave and presenteeism result when organisations support employee mental health. Employees are also more engaged, innovative and resilient in mentally healthy workplaces.
How to improve mental health and wellbeing in the workplace
Create an open, inclusive and accepting culture
This requires employers to create a culture that supports inclusivity, (link to ‘Why equality, diversity & inclusion in the workplace matters – and how to improve yours’) then champion that culture daily. This is something that should be emphasised from your first point of contact with a candidate and then maintained throughout their time with you as an employer. So, from the outset, make it clear that any mental health and wellbeing issue employees wish to discuss will always be treated with confidentiality, respect and understanding, never intolerance.
Implementing this cultural change may be a lengthy process, but as openness about the subject becomes more commonplace, your employees will find it easier to be honest about their mental health, meaning that support can be provided much earlier.
Set the tone from the very top
Provide training for senior and middle managers
This is an issue explored in our Hays Journal 19. Commenting on the issue, Mark Edgar, Co-Founder of future foHRward in Canada, told us: “It’s critically important for organisations to ensure their leaders have the right leadership skills to create an engaging and inclusive environment. More specifically, skills that increase awareness and confidence around managing mental health issues are a very important component of leadership development.”
It's important that these skills are developed in your middle managers, too. After all, it is your middle managers who are on the front line when it comes to enacting wider policies for creating a mentally healthy workplace. They have the most frequent, quality conversations with individual employees about how they are coping. So, help your line managers by also providing them with access to training programs that allow them to recognise the early signs of a mental health condition.
Ensure you follow up afterwards to check that your managers have taken the training on board and understand how to apply it as part of their day-to-date management role. Be realistic though – they cannot expect to become mental health experts overnight. But they can instead flag when they think there is an issue and highlight the support that is available to the employee.
Provide the right forums for all employees to have a voice
This can be achieved by asking for feedback and ideas at all levels through organisation-wide surveys, regular one-on-one meetings with line managers and regular roundtable discussion groups where employees of different levels come together to discuss a range of workplace ideas.
Then act on the feedback provided
Regular meetings shouldn’t be solely about work
Provide regular and transparent communication
Offer regular training & development
Run mental health and wellbeing initiatives
Make work-life balance a priority for all
Review mental health and wellbeing support for remote workers
Create wellness action plans
Role model the behaviour you want to see
Consider external support
While supporting employees with their mental health and wellbeing is important, many organisations choose to outsource mental health care to third parties. Such external support provides your organisation with access to expert help, guidance and training. However, if you elect to do this, you still need to ensure mental health support is entrenched within your organisation.
To sum up, the success of any organisation is dependent on having a healthy, happy and productive workforce. Prioritising the mental health and wellbeing of your staff should not just be a consideration for the socially-conscious employer – it should be a priority for the business-conscious one too. So, create an inclusive and supportive culture, have an open-door policy and run regular mental health and wellbeing initiatives.
For more insights on how you can improve mental health and wellbeing in your organisation, read our article on ways to take care of your mental health and wellbeing at work, plus download our Hays Barometer Report.
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