How can the health and wellbeing of staff be maintained?
“I think someone in my team is struggling with their mental health but I don’t know what to do.”
“How should I talk to my boss about workplace mental health difficulties?”
“What’s the best way to help my colleagues with their mental wellbeing?”
You wouldn’t be alone if these thoughts had circled your head often in recent weeks. After all, maintaining and improving mental health at work has never been so widely discussed and prevalent as it is right now.
A report by CIPD last year stated that mental ill health remains the most common cause of long-term absence from the workplace with stress, anxiety and depression plaguing more of us than ever before.
The report revealed large workloads, difficult management styles, problematic relationships at work, and a poor work–life balance as the main triggers of stress in the last twelve months, alongside Covid-related anxiety and the challenges surrounding homeworking.
Gone are the days that workers with mental health problems felt shame and went to extraordinary lengths to hide their symptoms and struggles. In the present day we need to support others and reach out a helping hand to make workplaces more inclusive, empathetic and compassionate.
A recent article by HelpGuide said: “Employees who are suffering from work-related stress can lead to lower productivity, lost workdays, and a higher turnover of staff. As a manager, supervisor, or employer, though, you can help lower workplace stress.
The first step is to act as a positive role model. If you can remain calm in stressful situations, it’s much easier for your colleagues to follow suit.“
It is estimated that 70 million workdays are now being lost each year due to mental health problems, meaning it’s no surprise that the cost to UK employers is hitting a staggering £2.4 billion per year.
So what can we all do to tackle this problem, regardless of our role or position within a company?
How can I help the health and wellbeing of my staff?
Encourage open conversations
Whether you manage a team or not, creating an open and honest work environment is something you can contribute to.
If you adopt a caring and welfare focused approach you can start to eliminate stigma and encourage transparency and trust amongst staff.
Why not start holding regular wellbeing check-ins so that your colleagues can share how they’re feeling and the challenges they’re facing. Smaller break-out groups could encourage people to speak out and receive advice from peers in the group.
You can also make mental wellness part of your regular managerial one-to-ones or supervisions and include it as a section on any follow-up reports and action plans.
Be flexible
We’ve all benefitted from flexibility in the workplace. Whether we had to finish early or start late to attend an appointment, take a last-minute day off or work from home to accommodate family life, it’s made things much easier to know we can adapt work to suit our needs.
Employees with mental health difficulties may need additional support including adjustments to the way in which they work. As a manager, your ability to accommodate these could make the world of difference to your staff and thus their standards of work.
An article published in WeWork last year stated: “being flexible in the workplace has the added side effect of making you happier in other areas of your life. When you’re less anxious at the office, you’re more able to achieve a healthy work-life balance.”
Therefore, it is better to allow people the time and space to attend to their out-of-work commitments so that they return calmer and more focussed on their job.
Increase contact
Whilst all staff should receive regular one-to-one and supervision time with their managers, those with mental health difficulties may benefit from extra support.
An article in Champion Health recently said: “Increasing the provision of one-to-one support may help struggling employees feel more supported. It also means you can help the employee stay on track, and quickly step in if they are struggling.”
This does not intend to micromanage them or suggest that they are less capable than others on the team, it simply serves to ease their stress and make them aware that you are there for them and happy to help.
If, as a manager, you don’t have the capacity to do this personally, you can look to implement a mentoring or ‘buddy’ scheme which pairs the individual with a colleague who has empathy and the ability to listen and offer support.
Educate yourselves
Regardless of your position or level within your organisation, anyone can spend time undertaking mental health training to deepen their knowledge and understanding.
Whether you experience mental ill health or work alongside somebody who does, education is empowering and as more people in your team become informed, the lack of awareness and stigma reduces.
Offering training to your staff may put them in a better position to deal with the issues that are causing them stress or help them to become better allies to others who suffer.
Many councils, charitable organisations and online education providers offer Mental Health First Aid courses that organisations can tap into for their workforces.
Be proactive
A proactive approach to mental wellbeing can help to alter the culture and environment of your workplace.
Management will best succeed when they are actively looking out for their staff and those with difficulties so that they can intervene before it becomes too severe.
Proactivity can take many forms but centres around creating clear policies surrounding mental health and how issues are dealt with, encouraging leaders to also be open about their mental health, increase visibility of certain conditions within the workplace and provide resources and training to raise awareness.
By proactively looking out for your employees, discussing with them the support you can offer, and carefully choosing the relevant reasonable adjustments together, you can help create a workplace that encourages employees to bring their best selves to work. A workplace focused on maintaining the health and wellbeing of your staff.
Employees will remember how they have been treated at times of need. Take this opportunity to show them how much you care.
END
References
https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/health-wellbeing-work-report-2021_tcm18-93541.pdf
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-in-the-workplace.htm
https://championhealth.co.uk/insights/reasonable-adjustments-mental-health/#15