Talking mental health to increase performance
Mental health at work is hugely important: for the individual, and for the organisation.
Poor mental health, and especially the lack of effective, empathetic ways of talking about it in the workplace, can have huge repercussions for productivity, lost days at work, the deterioration of performance and rates of job satisfaction, and a host of other problems.
Governments, employers’ organisations and think tanks around the world have evaluated the true cost of poor mental health in the workplace, with startling findings about the range of conditions and the depth of the impact that those conditions can have.
In recent times , several initiatives have sprung up in response to this, some driven by broadminded employers, some by employee organisations or individuals, and some by academic institutions, such as the recently formed Mental Health & Productivity Pilot. Their aim is to:
“help get more employees and employers across the Midlands talking about mental health at work. Why? Because we know that open conversations help to create healthy, happy workplaces where all staff can thrive.”
Here is the workplace paradox: when you attend your job interview, turn up for your appraisal or join the boss for a general chat, you strive to appear strong, in command, calm, controlled, competent, positive, pro-active, and engaged - a model employee. The workplace pressures we all experience can be so undermining at times that the outward appearance of control and inner strength can be little more than a cruel charade.
Many of us will recall toxic work cultures, over-bearing bosses, or worse.
We all recognise the feeling of unmanageable workloads, a tsunami of emails on a Monday, the competing pressures, and – for many - a nagging feeling that we’re perhaps not working hard or quite well enough to satisfy those in charge.
Even worse can come at the hands of ambitious colleagues who trample over us, undermining us in an attempt to get ahead, or those ‘bring an apple for the teacher’ people who seem to get all the opportunities while you are overlooked for promotion.
Is there any environment less conducive for the maintenance of good mental health than a toxic or dysfunctional workplace? Perhaps the worst aspect of this is that such workplaces are often the absolute hardest places in which to air how you feel. How can you talk about your mental health at work, your struggles and your anxieties, when everyone above and around you seems to be so caught up in their own daily struggles even to notice?
Yet people can notice. And yes, people should notice.
It might seem unsettling, but even machines can notice.
Research by UCLA states:
“Smart speakers ... [can now] employ software programs and artificial intelligence to analyze several features of speech and speech acoustics, including pitch, jitter, energy, rate, and length and number of pauses” fairly accurately to determine stress levels in individuals. They can predict mental health issues such as “anxiety disorders [and] depression as well as a range of physical health problems such as chronic pain, too.”
At HeadClear, we utilise technology by employing Insight Optical Imaging (IOI) technology to observe your breathing and heart rates to assess wellbeing and stress management levels. Over time these will reveal patterns that visually demonstrate how you have been feeling.
More old-school, but just as effective and more human, are the time-honoured practices of noticing your colleagues and their behaviours; taking care of them; listening to them in order to understand their frustrations, anxieties and stresses and taking time to talk about how they are coping and feeling about work.
Just as we all probably remember at least one boss who never took the time to listen or care, we probably all remember another who did and we recall that episode so fondly for the profound difference it made to how we felt about ourselves and our workplaces. So, be that person who listens. Make a difference to someone’s day, it might just make a difference to their life.
Meanwhile, be kind to your own self.
Remember what it is that attracted you to your job, and remember the talents, strengths, skills and personal attributes that got you that job in the first place. Clearly someone thought you were great.
If you believe the main source of your poor mental health might be your workplace, the good news is that there are clearly defined ways in which it is acceptable, right and ethical to raise them. In law, your boss has a duty of care for your well-being, health and safety, and all responsible employers will interpret that duty as taking reasonable steps to prevent the workplace being the cause of poor mental health.
Besides, there are now lots of resources, help packs, and advice about how to raise concerns about your own anxieties, depression or whatever it is that you’re struggling with. Human Resources departments are (usually) highly attuned to dealing with welfare issues that are raised in the appropriate way.
Talking about mental health in the workplace has never been more mainstream.
All that is needed is the bravery to speak out: to realise that asking for help is not a sign of weakness but of inner strength and courage, and to broach the subject openly and calmly when the time is right.
And if none of that works, then there are mediation and union organisations who can step in to ensure that the appropriate conversations do take place.
As an employee, do not underestimate your rights. As an employer do not underestimate your responsibilities. In an ideal world, a collaborative, supportive, empathetic environment will support everyone to give of their best all of the time.
Self help can be vital, too. An online search will quickly bring up lots of self-help toolkits that might well refer to things such as:
Concentrating on your strengths and what you did well today
Eating well and staying hydrated (and not with alcohol at lunchtime to dull the pain!)
Asking for help
Taking a break and perhaps do some slow breathing exercises
That regular exercise can be a crucial component
Accepting you for who you are, including your limitations
Talking to people two-way, and being supportive of each other
Perhaps in this blog a contradiction has emerged. Not everyone is an ‘employee’ or an ‘employer’. Lots of people work as part of a small team within a larger organisation, perhaps with some responsibility or line management duties for a few close colleagues. Such environments, which may resemble small ‘family units’ of the workplace, can and should be solid building blocks of supportive mental health care, in which people look out for each other and know each other well enough to notice if something is not quite right.
Poor mental health has been proved to be highly costly in both human and economic terms. It is so important that we work together to build environments in which work is seen as a pleasure, in which colleagues are supported, and in which everyone can thrive. And go home at the end of the day feeling proud of your achievements, however modest you might think them to have been.
Take care of yourself, and others, and do not feel afraid of talking about mental health in the workplace. Top tip.