Mental health at the workplace is no longer a thing you can consider in your organization. Now it has become the priority of employers and managers to take care of their employee’s mental health. The statistics were not good before, but after Covid-19 it has become worse. According to a survey, one out of four people is struggling with some mental issue. It can range from minor to serious illnesses. This can be hazardous for a company’s growth as it directly affects the overall productivity.
Therefore, in this article, we will be discussing ways to improve mental health in the workplace. Stay with us till the end and you may find solutions for your organization too.
Before we start, here is a cheat hack for you. Visit the Brisbane Wellbeing website and contact top psychologists.
What is Mental Health?
Mental Health, in this context, means the well-being of a person who can devote their full potential to work, cope with daily stress, and contribute to the community. Moreover, it is important to note that mental health should not be confused with the absence of any mental illness. For instance, a person can be free from any mental illness but still have bad mental health.
Poor mental health can affect your daily lifestyle such as thinking, mood, behavior, etc. If help is not provided to such people in extreme cases they may refugee to suicide. Therefore, it has become essential for each firm to ensure the well-being of its employees.
Why Is It Important to Improve Mental Health?
Mental health is important in every aspect of a human. If you are an employer, you should always consider looking for ways to improve your mental health at your workplace. Moreover, it gives others the courage to face their fear and fight back.
Poor mental health at the workplace results in low productivity and profit. According to the estimate of WHO, companies lose around $1 trillion because of depression and anxiety in the workplace. Employee wellness will also impact employee retention and improve creativity among employees.
Therefore, an employer should always take possible measures to improve mental health at the firm.
Factors That Affect Mental Health Negatively
Several factors affect the mental health of an employee at the workplace. Before we discuss the solution let us understand them.
- Inadequate Policies
Inadequate health and safety policies in a workplace can be a factor to affects the mental health of an employee negatively. For instance, if an employee is daily exposed to equipment with harmful radiation, it will harm their health heavily. Moreover, a workplace that is not suitable for work can result in stress.
- Poor Communication
Another important factor is the poor communication between the employees and management. In such situations, employees find themselves alone and trapped. This can result in increased stress and less productivity.
- Performance Pressure
Continuous pressure from managers can contribute to stress among employees.
- Job Insecurity
If an employee feels that there is a continuous threat to their position, they can get frustrated and the fear of not being able to support their family can lead to poor mental health.
- No Support for Employees
If managers do not support the employees, they may feel over-pressured and unmotivated. Either they will try to leave the job or will get stressed.
7 Ways to Improve Mental Health at Workplace
There are seven effective ways through which you can improve your mental health at your workplace.
- Promote Mental Health Awareness
The first and foremost step you should take is to aware your employees of mental health issues. Simply addressing mental illness can sometimes make the difference. You can also provide different resources for your employees to learn more about it and also seek ways to solve them. You can also organize webinars and consultant camps where an employee can openly talk about their issues to their managers.
You should also organize events to inform your employees about ways to tackle mental issues. For example, suppose there is an employee who often does over time. It is not good for their mental health to do continuous overtime and compromise their sleep. In such a case you can talk to them and ask them to take earned leaves.
- Flexible Schedule
Rigid schedules and tight deadlines can trigger stress among employees. Employees should get their leaves when they needed. It can be sick leave, adjusted leave, or earned leave. So if the company has a right leave management system then it’s easier to arrange such leaves.
You can tackle this problem by offering flexible scheduling. A flexible workplace often leads to job satisfaction, better work-life balance, and ultimately less stress.
- Communicate
Another important solution you can adopt to improve mental health in your place is communication. Better communication between the organization can improve the coordination between a team. An employee should be comfortable enough to tell their manager about their difficulties and seek solutions.
- Work Compensation
An employer should always recognize the work of the employee and give compensation accordingly. You can provide your employees with different things to motivate them. For instance, if your employee is performing well, you can provide them with an incentive. Moreover, you are not bound to provide monetary gains always. You can use appreciation words, provide vouchers, discount coupons, or gift hampers.
- Arrange Events
You can also organize different events at your organization. For instance, you can organize a small stand-up comedy at your place or organize company dinners. You can even organize sports functions. Such events promote communication between the employees and the employer.
- Provide Mental Health Training
You should organize different mental health training programs in your organization. At such training programs, you should train the management to recognize early signs of mental illness and ways to prevent it. Search training programs will help your manager to understand different mental illnesses in the workplace and provide better solutions to solve them.
- Include Mental Health Coverage in The Health Care Plan
You can also increase the scope of the health insurance coverage and offer adequate support to improve mental health. For instance, you can include massage therapy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, etc.
Final Words
To wrap it up, we can say that mental issues have become common in today’s world. But an employer needs to take different measures to solve this problem at the workplace. While the above-suggested measures can help you, you should not restrict yourself. Take these examples as inspiration and make your own solutions to tackle this problem at your workplace.
