In a study conducted by Mind Share Partners, SAP, and Qualtrics published in Harvard Business Review this year it was abundantly clear that mental health education is becoming almost essential to include in workplace training.
60% of respondents, who ranged across all levels from C-suite to entry level, reported experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition in the past year.
If we believe that mental health conditions are a product of life outside of work we will continue to miss the powerful influence and contributing factor that work plays in our level of mental well being.
Whilst there are many factors external to the work environment which contribute to mental health there are equally many factors internal to the work environment that directly impact an individual’s ability to cope effectively.
In my work with people of all levels in business, I find myself frequently exploring stressors at play in an individual’s personal life that are impacting how they present themselves and turn up in their work environment. Similarly, we often explore patterns at play in their work performance that overflow into how they are with others in their personal life.
The two are intertwined – 61% said productivity was impacted by their mental health with 37% of respondents stating the work environment contributed to their symptoms.
As much as we like to think we’re able to compartmentalise our lives into nice neat packages of work life and personal life the reality is quite different. What occurs in our personal life impacts our work and what occurs at work impacts our personal life. To believe we can completely separate the two is absurd. The moment we truly acknowledge this is the moment we are then able to look at our work practices, processes and environment and identify initiatives and opportunities for addressing the ‘human needs’ in our human resources.
86% said it was important to them that a company’s culture supports mental health.
To cultivate this culture discussions around work and general life factors contributing to stress, pressure, expectation, burnout, and pace of change should be encouraged. Along with access to training, development and resources to bolster resilience, understand self, manage emotions and improve general well being.
Taking a greater interest in HOW someone is doing in the workplace over simply what they are doing will start to elevate the importance of focusing on the elements of performance that frequently get overlooked. Namely, the:
- Willingness and ability of individuals to have candid, honest and constructive discussions with each other
- Degree of accountability and responsibility individuals take for how they behave, treat and speak with people in the work environment
- Level of personal ownership displayed and insight gained for making mistakes and being fallible
As with anything, there will always be a number of people who will seek a way to take advantage of these cultural changes and make false claims making it problematic for businesses to support those with legitimate mental health challenges.
How do we foster and create a culture supportive of mental health in a way that is fair, accessible and inclusive?
The younger generations are paving the way for companies to be more embracing of discussing and addressing mental health within the workplace due to their willingness and openness to seek ongoing support. This trend is helping to reduce the stigma associated with mental health.
Finding ways to provide employees with the support needed to elevate levels of mental well being will have a positive impact on employee engagement and retention.
Here are some questions to prompt you to reflect on how well your business supports the mental well being of its people:
- How open are individuals in leadership and management positions to hearing about increased workloads, resource strain and pressure levels?
- What degree of balance or importance is placed on how someone performs and behaves at work over metric achievement?
- What is the breadth and depth of current training and development programs around understand self and others versus skill based development?
There are many positive and transformational initiatives businesses have implemented over the past few years to address mental well being in the workplace such as flexible work hours, resilience training, mental first aid training, promoting healthy eating and exercise, work/life balance reinforcement, and social engagement practices to name a few. However, there are a number of businesses that still simply think having an Employee Assistance Program in place is all they need to do to ensure the mental health needs of their team are addressed.
Whilst there is no clear outline of what businesses need to specifically do to address mental health in the workplace, an attitude of exploration, curiousity and test and measure will go a long way to uncovering new practices and strategies that will continue to change and improve the way we effectively manage our greatest business resource.
As technology advancements continue to occur impacting not only the way in which we work but the work we actually do, we will remain in a state of uncertainty, change and flux for a while to come. In response, businesses simply need to address mental health and promote well being as a standard practice to ensure the workplace is a safe, fulfilling and rewarding experience.
Sometimes the best ideas come from what others have tried and tested. So let’s open up a chat and start a discussion around ideas for individuals and teams to try within their business environment.