It’s no secret that the world of work is getting ever more demanding, with organizations needing to do more with less, and these pressures being passed onto their people.
The prevalence of mental health issues in the workplace is increasing, and organizations don’t just have a professional duty to promote mental wellbeing, but a moral obligation to do so, too.
This article discusses how to promote mental health in the workplace, offering practical strategies to implement to ensure a happier, healthier and more productive workforce.
The benefits of promoting mental health in the workplace
The importance of promoting mental health awareness in the workplace cannot be overstated. It can benefit your employees and contribute to the success of the organization as well.
Here are the three main benefits of promoting mental health in your workplace:
- Increased productivity: When employees have better mental health, they’re more engaged and productive in what they do. Reduced stress results in fewer mistakes and a greater investment in the work employees undertake.
- Positive workplace culture: Promoting mental health goes hand in hand with employees feeling happy, valued and respected at work. This contributes to better collaboration, more socialization and improved motivation. Discussion of mental health issues also reduces stigma around them, which improves open communication and culture.
- Reduced absenteeism: Mental health is one of the top reasons people take sick leave. By promoting mental health at work, employees will be absent less. This, in turn, will reduce turnover, as employees who feel supported at work are less likely to resign due to mental health reasons.
Tips for promoting mental health in the workplace
Promoting good mental health can be done in lots of different ways, and the first step is to look at what your organization needs, and work it into a scalable plan.
Here are some actionable pieces of advice:
1. Implement mentally healthy workplace practices
Managers should implement practices and ultimately foster a workplace culture that promotes mental wellbeing. This can be achieved in many ways, from offering flexible working, valuing and supporting employees, encouraging regular breaks, and thoughtfully designing the workplace.
Train managers to recognize the signs of mental health concerns, such as burnout, and develop them to be able to respond when they have an employee in need. Leaders should also monitor their workplace to maintain these standards.
2. Communicate with employees
Effective and open communication is vital for promoting mental health in the workplace. This can be accomplished through regular check-ins or one-to-ones with employees, holding team meetings that encourage participation, and giving and receiving feedback effectively.
Ultimately, employees need to be comfortable and confident in articulating themselves and being open with their colleagues and managers; if communication is flexible, positive and inclusive, it will naturally enable colleagues to open up in a way that supports their mental wellbeing.
3. Encourage open conversations
Encouraging open conversation about mental health normalizes the topic and raises awareness about mental health issues. This ensures employees can seek help when needed and feel empowered to support each other because they recognize the signs.
Leaders can create safe spaces in workplaces where employees can discuss mental health issues without judgment or fear. Employees can be trained in how to discuss and respond to mental health topics, and perhaps even take formal qualifications such as mental health first aider courses.
4. Include mental health coverage
Mental health coverage can be included in employee benefits packages in different ways. It can be tagged onto standard health insurance in the form of free or subsidized therapy or counseling sessions. Organizations can also invest in employee assistance programs: free services that support employees with a variety of issues such as stress, anxiety or money worries.
Reward managers should regularly review what’s on offer for organizations to take advantage of, as mental health coverage options are improving all the time.
5. Encourage work–life balance
Many employees may not think about their own work–life balance, so managers must take a proactive approach to ensure this is focused on in the workplace.
To this end, managers should encourage employees to rest, take regular breaks, go home on time, and use their vacation allowance. Working after shifts end should be discouraged, and policies that promote flexible working should be championed.
6. Establish an employee assistance program
As touched upon already, employee assistance programs are broad resources that offer a range of support for employees struggling with mental health, most of which are free for them to use.
EAPs typically offer a variety of face-to-face, over-the-phone or online resources for employees to use, such as articles offering mental health advice and tips, free phone counseling, or even online or face-to-face therapy sessions. They’re designed to support employees through a wide range of issues that can affect their mental health, such as divorce, work pressures, money issues, general stress or depression.
7. Implement mental health training
Mental health training gives employees and managers the skills needed to recognize and respond to mental health issues in the workplace. Training can be online or classroom-based and cover many different topics such as mental health first aid, stress management, resilience skills and general mental health knowledge.
The impact of this training can be far-reaching. Increased awareness of mental health helps reduce stigma and creates a supportive workplace, and well-informed employees can assist in ensuring small mental health concerns don’t become larger.
8. Offer flexible work arrangements
A comprehensive offering of flexible working arrangements demonstrates that organizations value and respect work–life balance. Employees who adopt flexible working can look after their mental health by having more free time, balancing their work and personal lives, and experiencing less stress.
This creates a happy workplace and ensures higher employee satisfaction. Flexible working can create challenges for organizations, so leaders who embrace this and follow through on flexible working arrangements are regarded as particularly positive and forward-thinking.
9. Train managers
Managers are often on the frontline of being exposed to their employees’ mental health concerns, and it is, therefore, vital that they recognize the signs of poor mental health and respond accordingly.
Trained managers will also be more aware of mental health impacts, and they can proactively address these before they become a challenge. They will be less biased and more aware of mental health discrimination, and ultimately operate fairer and more inclusive departments.
10. Encourage physical activity
Regular exercise has been proven to improve mental health by reducing anxiety and stress, and boosting overall mood and energy levels. Taking time out of your working day for regular activities to improve mental health is not difficult, but employers must encourage this and ensure it forms part of their organizational culture.
This could be through encouraging the use of standing desks, group walks or walking meetings, or providing an on-site gym or subsidized gym memberships. Leaders will also find that active employees are more productive, too.
11. Offer dedicated mental health days
Mental health days are days off outside of regular holiday allowance that employees can use to prevent stress or burnout. Offering them is a brilliantly proactive solution to mental health issues, as employees can use these whenever they feel they need to.
If employers provide dedicated mental health days and actively encourage their use, they’re showing their workforce that mental health is supported and valued.
12. Reduce the stigma
Normalizing mental health conversation is vital to every workplace, as it breaks down barriers, and allows everyone to comfortably and proactively address mental health discussions at work.
Leaders can reduce the stigma by promoting open communication, sharing information, providing resources and forums for employees to learn about mental health issues, and arranging training sessions on how to talk about mental health. Managers can also open up about their own mental health challenges if they’re happy to do so, showcasing their vulnerability in front of their team; this can be incredibly powerful.
13. Challenge your employees
Setting targets and stretch goals for your employees can be a powerful way to promote mental health in the workplace. By taking a healthy and supportive approach to goal-setting, you’re encouraging your employees to engage, grow and learn, all of which can improve their mental health.
Employees will also feel positively occupied and motivated, meaning they’ll be happy at work rather than overwhelmed or stressed because of a lack of direction.
14. Foster a sense of belonging
Everyone wants to feel like they “belong” at work; after all, it’s where many of us spend the majority of our day.
Leaders must work hard to create an inclusive and caring culture where people feel at home. This can be achieved through getting to know your employees, organizing socialization opportunities, celebrating diversity and success, and fostering a culture of care. If employees feel this sense of belonging, they’re more likely to feel happy, motivated and supported — and, therefore, mentally healthy.
15. Provide mental health resources
Employers must provide a variety of mental health resources that can be used in different ways and be targeted at different demographics of employees. This can include EAPs, training materials, mental health buddies or medical guidance.
That said, it’s not enough to provide it; employers must signpost it, ensuring that employees are aware of everything and how it can be used. Doing this shows employees that your organization takes mental health care seriously.
16. Lead by example
Ultimately, promoting mental health in the workplace starts at the top. Managers and leaders must communicate mental health information and resources, take the lead on caring for their teams, and, where they feel comfortable doing so, share their own mental health experiences to drive a culture of trust and transparency.
Additionally, leaders must work in a healthy way and follow their own advice, such as taking regular breaks and not emailing people after hours.
17. Ask for help
Organizations must create a culture where it’s “okay to say you’re not okay”. This comes from active communication and awareness of mental health issues so that people feel assured that asking for support is a sign of strength, not weakness.
This is achieved through leaders providing clear support and direction, offering training on mental health issues, and proactively noticing when an employee might need help. Calling out and giving feedback on behavior that doesn’t support this is also vital for showing that asking for help is encouraged.
18. Create a positive work environment
Leaders must drive the creation of positive work environments, where people are respected, valued, recognized and taken care of at all times.
Behaviors that drive this are typical good leadership traits, such as encouraging diversity, equality and inclusion, communicating openly, motivating people, effectively managing conflict, and creating a sense of belonging. A positive working environment is supportive, and reduces stress and anxiety, thus promoting mental wellbeing.
19. Offer virtual therapy and counseling services
Virtual therapy and counseling services are great mental health resources to offer employees, partly because of their convenience and ease of use, but also because many employees will be more comfortable discussing mental health matters virtually, rather than in person.
These benefits will ultimately add to the convenience of therapy while removing some of the stigma surrounding it, meaning that more people will make use of the support and receive the help they need.
20. Prioritize mental health breaks
Mental health breaks are short, frequent breaks throughout the working day that support employees with relaxing and recharging while they work through their tasks and responsibilities.
Employers can champion mental health breaks by encouraging their use, providing a place for employees to go and relax, and even implementing policies that require their use. These breaks, when taken in the right way, create a balanced and positive workplace where stress and burnout are proactively addressed.
Final thoughts
Promoting mental health in the workplace is a win–win. Focusing on it fulfills a moral obligation to look after your employees, and your organization will benefit from increased productivity and less absenteeism. Furthermore, prioritizing employee mental health interventions is one of the cornerstones of a positive organizational culture.
There are many different ways to promote mental health at work. Your role as a leader is to map out a strategy for promoting mental health in the workplace that will have the most impact in your organization. This means mapping out actions that are aligned to your current business strengths and development areas, but also ones that have the potential to reach the majority of your people and be inclusive.
Can you think of any other ways for promoting mental health in the workplace? Let us know in the comments section below.
This article is a complete update of an earlier version originally published on May 20, 2020.