Every day, many employees struggle with mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression due to various factors such as stress related to job insecurity, family pressures, and financial constraints. These issues affect not only the overall well-being of employees but also create a significant impact on organizations in several ways. Such employees feel less motivated and find it difficult to focus on organizational goals and vision. Moreover, mental health issues at the workplace affect their productivity and lead to high employee turnover and absenteeism, which ultimately affects the overall work processes.
Due to its long-term impact, several employers are now deploying effective measures and reshaping their strategies to address mental health issues amongst employees.
Here we’ll dive deeper to see five ways employers can ensure mental health at the workplace
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Break the stigma
Talking about mental health issues is often considered taboo in our society. The same is the case in the workplace, where employees are hesitant to talk about their mental health problems. The person who is working from home has mental and physical health. As a result, they continue hiding it with the fear of being labeled ‘mentally ill.’ Thus, the first step any organization can take is to remove the stigma related to mental health. Employers can help create a stigma-free environment by encouraging employees to talk openly about their mental problems, like any other disease. Moreover, they can make employees feel better by prioritizing their well-being.
Thus, employers can hire human resource specialists with a professional degree such as bachelors in psychology to deal with mental health issues among employees. With in-depth knowledge, they can offer their help and support to these employees and remove the stigma related to mental illnesses.
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Offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Employers can offer EAP programs to help workers combat their mental illnesses. For example, if an employee is suffering mentally, employers can refer them to an EAP provider. This work-based intervention program enables employees to contact therapists, counselors, and other mental health care providers. Consequently, they can learn stress-management techniques, enabling them to cope with stress. Moreover, all the information obtained during an EAP session remains confidential. It serves as a motivator for employees to seek support without any fear of a breach.
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Promote a healthy workplace culture
Organizational culture plays a significant role in employee’s mental health. A positive culture promotes shared beliefs, values, and attitudes that help a company achieve its goals. Employees further feel motivated and focused on their daily tasks. On the contrary, bad company culture with excessive workload, ineffective communication, and lack of feedback adds to employees’ stress. As a result, they feel demotivated and unproductive. Mostly it leads to presenteeism- a state in which employees are physically present at work but are unable to fulfill their tasks and duties.
Thus, employers must engage in promoting a positive work culture. They can do so by effectively communicating with their employees and offering them feedback. A notable example of a company with stress-free culture is Twitter. Employees at Twitter are motivated by friendly coworkers and the team. Moreover, free meals and rooftop meetings further increase employee’s satisfaction and motivation.
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Build a relationship of trust
Employers can ensure the good mental health of their workers by providing them full support. For example, leaders can actively listen to their employees. It can help to manage stress. Moreover, by displaying empathy, employers can make workers feel comfortable in reaching out to them. Once workers understand that their senior executives and leaders value their emotions, a strong relationship develops. Such a relationship of trust allows employees to discuss their mental health issues freely without being shy. It can lead to increased employee satisfaction and higher productivity.
Furthermore, due to COVID19, workers are exposed to higher stress and frustration. Many workers grieve the loss of their loved ones and have a hard time coping with it. Thus, compassion and empathy are the most desirable traits required by employers. It can help employees recover to a great extent.
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Promote work-life balance
A lot of times, people are pressurized to work beyond office hours. They have no choice but to carry work with them even during the weekends. This overburden of work leads to increased anxiety amongst workers and affects their work-life balance. Hence, employers can implement policies that can help workers maintain a work-life balance.
For instance, they can get flexible working hours and the option to work remotely. Moreover, employers can encourage breaks at work. They can allow employees to engage in fun activities like providing them adult coloring books since creative and fun games release endorphins into the brain. Consequently, it makes employees happier, relaxed, and more productive.
Conclusion
Organizations should focus and care for their employees’ mental health. Often these mental health problems remain unnoticed, leading to negative consequences on employee’s health. Employers can play a crucial role in such cases. They can create awareness regarding mental health issues in their respective organizations. By implementing a positive work culture and allowing workers to relax, employers can reduce stress and increase workers’ productivity.
