The world is just starting to realize how much mental health affects employees. Fortunately, mental health concerns are increasingly acknowledged, approached, and talked about every year.
No company wants a reputation as a place that treats its workers poorly, especially when people have the power to speak out against bad treatment more than ever before.
From a business perspective, providing the right mental health resources to your employees and fostering a tolerant environment only bring positive changes. Your staff will feel like they can be more honest about work-related problems, and you’ll benefit from a happier and more productive work force. However, not every employer knows how to take the initiative.
Here are four ways you can embrace mental health awareness at your workplace.
1. Run Employee Assistance Programs
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are in place to help employees deal with professional and personal problems they are facing. These problems could include issues such as:
- Managing finances
- Family issues
- Dealing with grief
- Medical advice
- Stress
- Anxiety
- And more!
Many companies provide EAP’s for employers to sign with. Having this kind of support in place can ensure your workers get help from those who are qualified to deal with various issues. Employees will feel less apprehensive about seeking mental health services when they are accessible via work.
2. Provide Therapeutic Resources
Setting up health and wellbeing resources for your employees can be an effective way of letting them know that their health matters to you. Employees will also know where to get help when they need it. Even if some employees never use it, there is a sense of gratitude and comfort from knowing there is the option.
It’s best if your resources can be genuinely useful and accommodate various problems that any person might be going through. Services like Onlinepsykologene provide therapy online, which encourages your employees to seek help around their work schedule without stressing about making in-person appointments.
3. Hire A Mental Health Coordinator
Consider training an employee to manage mental health issues and protocols to ensure your company deals with mental health issues in the best way. Mental health first-aiders are becoming more common in the workplace. Someone who is trained as a mental health first-aider can help people in the office who are distressed. They can also give them relevant information and resources to get help.
Investing in specific training for colleagues who are interested in taking on this responsibility can pay off. You’ll have a designated staff member that gets to know the others in the office, encouraging them to open up and fostering unity. Alternatively, you might want to recruit a new employee, one who has experience within human resources.
4. Create a Newsletter
Creating a fortnightly, monthly, or even bi-monthly newsletter specifically focused on health and well-being can be a really useful way to tackle this issue in the office.
A newsletter gives information to employees on things they maybe didn’t know. It also informs those who are struggling and need help but are too afraid to reach out for it.
Your newsletter could include information on relevant wellbeing events, social initiatives you may be holding, uplifting stories, seasonal topics, on S.A.D., and useful contact information. This is something your designated mental health coordinator could be in charge of.
Conclusion
There is no one way that a mental illness can affect a person’s professional life. From a fully diagnosed, life-impacting illness to a depression induced by life circumstances, mental health issues can affect anyone, at any time, in any way.
Introducing or improving mental health and well-being protocols at your workplace is serious and important. Focusing on these issues helps break the stigma and encourages a more pleasant world to live in.
Interesting related article: “What is Mental Health?”