Focusing time and energy on your company culture has proven to pay dividends when it comes to attracting, hiring and retaining top talent. Organizations go to great lengths in their marketing, PR and branding to demonstrate the values and principles of their business. When it comes to creating a culture of good mental health within our organizations, we should begin with the same logic and enthusiasm. We need to build a business that thrives on productivity, efficiency and positivity.
We often hear management say, “People are our greatest asset”. What they mean is they offer their employees good pay, flexible working hours, excellent promotional opportunities and a pleasant working environment. While these are all great benefits, they don’t always address one of the most significant issues for both business or the individual: mental health and wellbeing.
Starting a Mental Health Movement
The cost alone should move many companies to address the issues of poor mental health in the workplace. However, many still see it as a tick box exercise. Others think the solution is a “fluffy’ couple of days of yoga and mindfulness training. Not wanting to disparage yoga or mindfulness, they are not adequate solutions in isolation to address such a significant issue.
What is required is a set of core principles, values and actions on which to build a solid foundation to create a culture of good mental health within your organization.
Core Standards
In the recent review, “Thriving at Work” by Stevenson and Farmer it recommends employers begin by establishing a set of mental health’ core standards’ which they can implement over time to address these issues.
Where to Begin
To start with, you are going to need to get buy-in from all stakeholders in your business. From the top-down, you’ll need to be meticulous in planning and detail to get the attention it deserves.
Let’s look at a few key strategies to begin creating a culture of good mental health:
- You’ll need to start in the boardroom. If this initiative is going to have any impact at all in terms of trust and transparency, you’ll need key leadership to drive the message home.
- Begin by aligning your mental health strategy to business goals. If leadership can see that good mental health directly impacts the bottom line, you will gain traction quicker.
- Be prepared with all the facts and figures you need to educate others about the value of a more productive and efficient workforce. Discuss absenteeism, presenteeism and engagement in terms of financial statistics – something the CFO, COO and CEO will understand.
- Become a leader in your industry. It will add kudos to your business, but it will also demonstrate that you are genuine in your attitude towards creating a positive work environment.
Once you have boardroom buy-in, you can begin to implement your core strategies. Employees may be resistant at first, fearful they will be stigmatized or penalized for sharing their true feelings. Gradually with an open-door policy, transparency and support in place both internally and outside the workplace, employees will begin to feel more comfortable about discussing their wellbeing.
The First Few Steps:
- Creating a culture where everyone can talk about mental health starts at the top. Leaders and managers need to become comfortable initiating supportive conversations and listening to their people; this is a crucial first step to creating a positive work environment. Designate a quiet, private space where employees can go to share their feelings during moments of stress or frustration.
- Provide relevant training so that everyone recognizes the signs of poor mental health in themselves and others. Implement daily management programs to help manage their workload and reduce stress.
- Giving people a voice and the chance to be heard is often underestimated. We assume if people have a problem, they will come forward and speak. However, pointing out the elephant in the room becomes harder to ignore, and with encouragement, people find a way to open up.
- Mental Health Champions and Mental Health First Aiders are a great idea, but they need support too. Be aware of their workload and ensure they are not struggling while helping others. Recognize this is a piece of the mental health puzzle; it is not the whole picture.
- External support is an excellent opportunity to offer your employees specialist help if they need it. From counselors and therapists to debt management and money specialists, easy access is the key to successful outcomes.
- Practical Help is a good starting point for some who struggles to talk about their feelings. Start with things like day to day challenges, for example, childcare problems, money worries, physical health issues.
Only by giving people the space to breathe and the patience to listen can they feel heard. We spend most of our adult lives at work. Therefore, it makes sense that many issues, worries and fears we carry derive from the workplace or arise when we are at work. Creating a positive and safe environment with a culture of trust and transparency can make the difference between someone struggling with life’s stresses and being consumed by them. Awareness, education and knowledge will help us to grow and be supportive of one another.
To learn more about training and education for good mental health in the workplace, read our next article.
