October 10th marks World Mental Health Day, and the – especially relevant – theme for the year is ‘workplace mental health’. With one in five UK workers feeling unable to manage stress and pressure in the workplace, clearly we have work to do!
We should all be making the effort year around to support employee wellbeing, but it’s useful to have reminders and spread awareness, which is where World Mental Health Day comes in.
Mental Health can be a difficult topic to broach, but creating a supportive atmosphere and approachable points of contact can be a big help to anyone who is struggling. Some things that you can do to aid employee mental health…
Have Wellbeing Champions – Train up individuals on the team to be able to spot the signs of poor mental health and offer support. There are many Mental Health training courses that you can utilise.
Offer an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) – If your team doesn’t feel comfortable talking about personal issues and mental health with a peer or outside of work, they can speak to a professional through an EAP.
Enable a Flexible, Balanced Work Life – Encouraging staff to use their full lunch breaks, step away from work, and use all of their annual leave is important to help prevent burnout. Allowing flexible working such as working from home days can also help to ease the pressure.
Create Community – While professional working relationships should remain professional, creating a sense of togetherness is not only great for boosting cohesion and collaboration, but can make your employees feel valued as a part of something bigger. Team building days and 10 minute break activities can be a great start.
Be Compassionate! – It might sound obvious, but it’s easy to get bogged down with work and not see the woods for the trees. If a team member isn’t as productive, is snappy with a colleague or seems quiet, is there some deeper reason for this? Come from an angle of concern rather than criticism.
For helpful resources surrounding mental health, see the Mental Health Foundation.
To learn more about our EAP and Wellness Benefits, contact us for a demo from our experts.
