Sustainable Workplace: normalising Mental Health conversations
Mental health is such a buzz word today. Not only in the professional context but also in the personal one. The pandemic has really impacted our views of the world, how we connect with each other and how much human connection and social interaction is part of who we are as humans. My vision when I talk about sustainable workplaces goes beyond recycling and being environmentally friendly, it taps into the business longevity.
Same as we need to protect our planet, we need to also have businesses that are here to stay and provide our society with jobs and a source of wealth and income. As we look into longevity, performance goes hand in hand. Poor performance, high turnover, burnout and mental health are all interconnected. Ensuring we all know how to detect and support team members that might suffer from burnout is something very simple but yet so important.
When you enter a room and share a conversation with someone, you do not know how they are coping with stress and even if they have any disabilities as some are invisible. How are we communicating, sharing, tailoring the experience of our employees and adapting to their needs - is a conversation we, P&C, need to have openly.
Did you know that the LGBTQ+ community suffers more from depression and 79% of surveyed (LGTBQ+) said that they felt their mental health did impact their work? (Indeed data: https://uk.indeed.com/lead/working-on-wellbeing-2022-report )
Also, 31% of 18-24 years see mental health as a barrier for work. And having mental health issues still carries stigma, as 6% think that having a mental health condition is a sign of weakness?
Once you start looking into research and surveys it becomes apparent that this is a two way conversation we all need to have. Organisations have the power to drive those conversations and improve their work atmosphere.
Here are some really easy tactics to implement that can bring great impact:
Add to all check-ins / performance reviews a question for managers to ask their teams about their well-being and stress levels. It will help as a reminder and it can be a great way to tailor a performance conversation and set context. If you do not wish to add it to the check-ins itself, it could be part of the manager’s guide or the cheat sheet for those meetings.
Get the CEO to communicate about the commitment and normalise those issues. It is not about glamorising the topic or pretending all employees might be struggling, but it is important for the leaders to show empathy and find / share moments in which they might also have felt overwhelmed and stressed.
Use your newsletters and add info about the Mental Health support system you have in place. Make shout-out for those helping, or open calls if you need more support … but ensure you have a place in which it gets communicated and is easy to find and get access to.
Have multiple Mental Health First Aid in the office. The cost of providing that course is low compared to the positive impact it will give your business. Not only by letting some people develop, learn and grow but also by humanising the office experience.
If you have one, communicate, the anonymous hotline around the office and in the intranet. Hotlines should be there for emotional, financial and all types of private topics employees do not want their employer to know they have a concern about. Adding posters in toilets or communal spaces can help.
Offer a You-Day a month: take time to relax, learn, spend time with the family, well-ness mental and body. We should start encouraging leadership to measure performance on a project basis when possible anyway, so taking a day to take care of ourselves should not impact workload and deliverables.
No matter how busy we think we are, we have time for what we really want.
