If you’re researching how to improve mental health in the workplace as a small or medium-sized business owner, you are taking a key step. A whopping 81% of workers reported that they will be looking for workplaces that support mental health in the future (apa.org). So if you address this need now, you will not only help retain healthier employees but attract new ones in the future. Providing mental health well-being care will positively impact your business’ morale and bottom line.
However, according to Forbes, 96% of CEOs say they are addressing mental health, while only 69% of employees agree. This is a vast discrepancy you should not ignore.
Let’s take a deeper dive.
Why It’s Critical to Learn How to Improve Mental Health in the Workplace
Mental health, or mental well-being as we like to call it, no longer pertains to just clinically diagnosed mental health issues. It also involves your general level of satisfaction, ability to perform and focus and capacity to interact with others.
It is your ability to recognize and cope with the everyday stressors of life while working productively and contributing to the world.
The mental health of your employees infiltrates every aspect of your business as well as how your employees show up outside your office. It’s not wise to separate work from personal when it comes to mental well-being.
For example, what does it say about your company if your employees:
- Go home frustrated and exhausted most of the time
- Struggle to get out of bed because they dread going to work
- Sigh or grumble when asked where they work at a party or around friends
- Never refer your company for business or as a good place to work
Just a few of the symptoms that your employees with poor mental health may show inside the office include:
- Difficulty concentrating
- Fatigue
- Easily confused
- Overwhelm
- Low morale
- Panic attacks
- Irritability
Poor mental health can disrupt healthy sleep, yet lack of good sleep can cause poor mental health. Physical and mental health go hand in hand.
Employees with poor mental health can suffer burnout.
Feelings of burnout can infiltrate your office – stifling employee relations, morale and productivity.
Clearly, it’s in your company’s best interest to provide mental well-being inside the office and out.
Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace Is On the Rise
Wisely, more businesses are spending time and money to address mental health. Though this statistic has improved by 11 points since early 2021 during the peak of the pandemic, only half of US employees reported having positive mental and emotional well-being (shrm.org). So we have a long way to go when it comes to rebuilding our mental health in the workplace.
How to Improve Mental Health in the Workplace
You may already use typical methods of supporting mental well-being such as employee assistance programs (EAPs) or other coverage for mental health.
But here are a few less conventional ways to promote mental well-being in your workplace.
- Make mental health and well-being an openly talked-about topic (disrupt the stigma surrounding it.)
- Subscribe to an app that provides meditations or other tension relievers.
- Show empathy for struggling employees and allow space for them to address mental health needs.
- Provide opportunities for employees to connect, especially if working in a virtual or hybrid environment – so they feel a sense of unity.
- Make stress management resources available 24/7.
- Don’t micro-manage your leaders but also don’t let them become overworked.
- Provide your leaders with proper training.
New data revealed that one in three employees said their manager fails to recognize the impact they have on their team’s mental well-being (The Workforce Institute at UKG). This also showed that for almost 70% of people, their manager has more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor – and it’s equal to the impact of their partner.
From interns to executives, your employees’ mental well-being matters big-time!
These suggestions can help you increase mental wellness in your workplace, but some of them can go unused. That’s why it’s important to get feedback from your employees, tailor a well-being plan to their needs and effectively implement it.
When you partner with BreakWell to improve your company’s and employees’ holistic well-being including mental well-being, you will gather the proper feedback (unfiltered since we are a third party) and implement systems that will get used and get you results!
Ultimately with our help, you can offer solutions that address the collective mental well-being of your employees while helping each person on an individual level. You will benefit from access to mental health professionals, online stress management sessions, workshops and more – that create a healthy environment your employees rave about!
To discuss how to improve mental health in the workplace with help from BreakWell, schedule a free consultation at this link.