Posted By Arnav Mathur On January 19, 2022
Tips to Support Employee Mental Health
A huge trend in workplace management has become to find ways to support employee mental health while on the job. Healthcare workers’ mental health has taken quite a toll since the COVID 19 pandemic took the world by storm almost 2 full years ago. They’ve been overworked and sometimes underappreciated, which leads to burnout. It’s not only healthcare workers that are stressed out, though. Workers worldwide, regardless of industry, are suffering the same way. Here are some tips on how to support employee mental health as a manager. Not only will this lead to happier staff members, it will help with employee retention.
Show that you take care of your own mental health
This one may seem like it’s contradictory to the point of employee mental health, but it’s not. If you make it clear that you are going to “take a walk”, or having therapy, or shutting your laptop down early, you are showing that your own mental health is important to you. By doing this, you are giving the staff the impression that they should prioritize their mental health as well. Being a good leader means taking care of the people who you are leading. Part of doing that is leading by example.
Check in on your employees
It is a good idea to ask your staff about their mental health, but it is not necessary to be direct every single time you check in. You can ask “How have you been feeling recently – mentally and emotionally?” but that won’t always help someone. Telling you if they are stressed does not tell you how you can address their needs. To be better, you can ask your staff how you can specifically help them, and what they need or request for them to feel better/happier. There is no need to ask them 5 days a week, but once every couple weeks would make your employees feel appreciated.
Invest in mental health support training
What would support employee mental health even more? Have the senior leaders get training on how they can help staff when they feel overwhelmed or burned out. By doing this, you are creating an environment that shows that you genuinely care for your employees. And we all know, if you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of your company.
Be flexible and accountable to your employees
Another way to support employee mental health is to change policies and be more flexible when it comes to time off, work load, deadlines, etc. Doing this not only will make your staff members happier, it will create a better environment for everyone working. Hold yourself accountable to these changes, and if you feel that you are not doing enough, do something about it. Keeping your employees happy is a great way to ensure work gets done, and that it gets done well.
Providing a mental health friendly work environment
Some companies provide relaxation rooms or a space onsite to do yoga with trained instructors to support employee mental health. Yoga is a great way for people to ease their mind and body. Something else that could be done is to have trained counselors visit on site (or available by virtual access) to teach your employees relaxation skills if they feel overwhelmed. Providing healthy snacks to your workers is also a great way to keep up good moods and avoid negative energy drops that come from eating junk food while working.
