We spend many hours of our day at work, be it in offices, meetings, classrooms, or even at home. So the environment where we perform our work-related activities out of should facilitate and support one’s overall wellbeing.
Ensuring that the workspace is simultaneously a safe space has been shown to boost performance and productivity, reduce absenteeism, and has a positive effect on a company’s bottom line (Rajgopal, 2010).
While we may think it amusing and relatable to talk about how much we dislike our jobs and how we can’t wait to retire, the humorous angle these discussions have taken is normalizing toxic workspaces and even turning them into an expectation.
What we need to remember is that an employee’s needs are constantly changing and management must consider ways of transforming their workspace to ensure their team feels more connected and valued.
Why the growing need for corporate wellness interventions?
Mental illness has cost economies around £74–99 billion in the UK, more than €450 billion in the European Union and around $2.5 trillion globally in lost productivity (Leka & Nicholson, 2019) and yet it is still seen as an individual problem. Together with their employees, managers need to learn prevention and intervention techniques for this persistent, ever-growing problem in the workplace. A company’s biggest asset is its people and investing in your team’s mental health and wellbeing will always yield positive results.
Here are a number of important ways to promote mental health and wellness where we work
How to promote mental wellbeing as an employer
- Add mental health services to your company’s health plan and clearly explain to employees how to access them (i.e. have an open-culture about mental health).
- Make sure HR departments have some sort of background or expertise in mental health or counseling.
- Organize weekly or bi-weekly group counseling sessions led by HR representatives to assess work-environment-related stressors and needs.
- Organize workdays on a task-to-do basis rather than hours that need to be met filled with last-minute assignments.
- Allow employees to customize their workspace.
- Be attentive and willing to make changes based on employee recommendations.
- Plan and encourage company outings and activities.
How to promote mental wellbeing as an employee
- Do not shy away from pointing out management’s lack of effort to make the work environment mentally healthy.
- Participate as often as possible in company activities.
- Be sociable and friendly with other employees – positivity is contagious.
- Make regular contributions to your own mental health.
- When applying for jobs, set standards. The workforce can shape what is expected from employers.
Ways management can support employees
- Invest in empathy training: the greater the level of empathy towards each other, the more a company is likely to thrive and build stronger teams who respect each other’s psychological wellbeing (Mandadi, 2021).
- Enhance your mental health literacy: Bryan et al. (2018) found that the more confident a manager is about their mental health knowledge, the more likely they are to approach an employee who is thought to be struggling mentally. So, it’s important that managers improve their mental health literacy through training initiatives. It’s also essential to be honest and open with employees about your own mental health struggles to encourage healthy discussion and learn what your employees need to feel supported and connected.
- Have discipline around communication: As mentioned above, a good leader strives towards building a great team but such a team can only exist if there is communication and trust. The culture and communication style of a company are pivotal to the wellbeing of a workplace (Cooke, 2020). The first step is to schedule a time and place to deliver the same message, to ensure everyone is on the same page. With better communication comes greater transparency and transparency cultivates trust between team members.
A final tip for employees
- Use clear, respectful communication to set boundaries. Identify and communicate your needs and values to ensure connected, healthier relationships in the workplace. Setting boundaries is crucial for the management of your mental health, so as to not feel cornered into doing things that you are not being compensated for or that will eventually cause burnout.
- At times, we may underprioritize our needs in order to meet a looming deadline. However, once the period of work intensity has passed, it is vital that you focus on taking care of your mental health (Chan Packer, 2022).
- As mental health issues continue to rise in the workplace, more leaders across industries are understanding the importance of expanding mental health support and creating a culture of self-care. If team members and leaders play their part, a nurturing environment can inspire positive collaboration, high quality work and better business performance.
