Importance of Employee Mental Wellness
Employee Mental Wellness is a topic that has gained more attention in the past few years. With Covid-19 taking over the freedom to work at offices and have real-life interactions with colleagues, there has been a hike in discussions about mental health and employee welfare.
The virtual office setup has been a new concept to many. On one hand, where it has been a blessing for companies to stay on track and sustain themselves, on the other hand, it has been difficult for employees to work in seclusion and maintain a healthy work-life.
Lack of human interaction has had its fair repercussions on the mental health of employees. Companies and managers have addressed this issue and are trying to come up with ways to raise awareness and provide solutions for the same.
While the traditional management outlook focused only on work productivity, projects, and deadlines, the contemporary work culture is more considerate and empathetic in its approach.
HR managers are constantly working to form an office structure that incorporates productivity while giving importance to the work-life balance, comfort, and mental health of their employees.
Depression across Employee Workforce
The FlexJob survey states that the work sector is facing a “mental health pandemic” with over 56% of their employees suffering from depression and burnout.
This negative commotion has led to a massive loss in terms of productivity and turnover throughout different industries.
There are cases where the Employee Mental Wellness issues faced by employees are not a result of their work. But even in such cases, the impact of their mental health is directly suffered by their work performance and the overall performance of the company. Employee Mental Wellness also affects the workspace dynamics between the team and in some cases even the clients and vendors.
In extreme cases, employers even face difficulty in employee retention which in turn causes extra labor in terms of hiring new employees and training them to fit the role of the former employees.
How does Employee Mental Wellness Affects the Workplace
Every employee plays a major role in achieving the long-term goals and visions of a company. They contribute to the growth of the company by investing their talents, ideas, and efforts in their projects and assignments.
Any issue faced by the employees in terms of their mental health directly reflects on their work and creates a gap between their creativity and productivity. This argument has been supported by The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC explains that mental illnesses influence employees in numerous ways.
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The consequences are not just limited to their work performance, but they also affect the capability of the employee to communicate with their team, admin, and manager. It further influences their physical functioning and degrades their lifestyle and well-being. On the contrary employees with robust mental health tend to yield better results and upscale the overall accomplishments of their company.
Another alarming factor is that a majority of the employees going through depression do not seek professional help. The taboo and lack of awareness about Employee Mental Wellness lead to silent suffering which adversely affects the employee throughout their lives.
What Employers Can Do To Support Mental Health
Discuss and raise awareness
The most crucial step for creating a healthy workspace is to discuss Mental Health and instigate a conversation. Managers can organize seminars with Health care professionals and conduct exercises to keep a check on the well-being of their team.
An office space that addresses Employee Mental Wellness just the way they address other health issues, promotes a comfortable and inclusive environment for all. It is essential to spread awareness and normalize Mental Welfare.
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Training for Mental Health First Aid.
Employers can seek professional guidance and conduct programs to encourage exercises and activities that can help their employees in maintaining their mental well-being. They can also instruct the team about ways of supporting people who are going through mental health issues and further train them about the ways in which they must treat and comfort them.
As important as it is to educate employees about sustaining their own mental health, it is equally important to instruct them to assess and address the health of their co-workers, friends, and family.
Prepare the management to help.
It might happen that the employees reach their saturation level and it starts deteriorating their performance. For such cases, companies must ensure that along with other management training sessions, their managers have the basic training to deal with employee burnouts and conduct basic counseling and advisory sessions.
They must be prepared to address the mental issues faced by their team and act accordingly or connect them to professionals in case the need arises. This will create a healthy workspace where employees will have a better relationship with their managers knowing that it is a safe environment for everyone to communicate their issues and look for help.
Work on mental health policies
Companies always lay down a comprehensive list of protocols and policies for adverse situations like illness, physical injury, or accidents. With changing times many prominent companies have started addressing Employee Mental Welfare as an equally important issue.
However, many companies still lack policies and protocols pertaining to the same. Companies need to form clear policies regarding mental health and constantly remind their employees that their mental health is valuable and they care about them.
Companies must offer professional assistance, health coverage, and rules regarding bullying, shaming, or degrading anyone for their mental health.
Conclusion
Employees carve the success and prosperity of a company. In the current times when the market competition is increasing every passing moment, it becomes essential to ensure that your workspace is all set to conquer the battlefield.
Employee Mental Welfare needs more awareness and discussion than ever and it becomes the duty of the company, HR, and the admin to constantly work towards promoting it and shattering the stigma around it.
A healthy workspace yields a thriving business and investing for the formation of the same, is the best decision you can make for your company.
