Is addressing mental health issues part of your company strategy?

People may have lost loved ones. Also, they may have lost contact with friends and family in the past two years. Further, their social lives may have been affected. The pandemic has also imposed a set of stress on workers. They feel the risk of losing their position. Moreover, adjusting to working from home and making changes to their daily routines may have a negative impact on them. 

Employees could be suffering from mental health issues without being aware of them. Therefore, as an employer, this is a key issue to address. People who do not feel well may miss more work or not perform as well as they are able to. What is the solution then? The answer is that a lot can be done to those in need.  

Is addressing mental health issues part of your company strategy?

When it comes to strategies, a good idea is to design a wellness program for all members of the company. The discussion can include recommendations to define decision-making, to track participation, and to emphasize the culture of wellness within the organization. Let’s check out some strategies you can implement to start supporting mental health.

1 | Make Communication Regular

While it is not always the first thing we think about with regard to workplace wellness, isolation can be one of the most difficult aspects of the whole pandemic situation for people. Especifically for those who are used to going to work, the lack of the normal socialization at work everyday, can leave them in discomfort.

For this and other reasons, businesses should also look to emphasize interactions and communication throughout the day.

2 | Recognize employees’ good performance

This is an easy and simple way to help employees with mood problems. There are lots of reasons bad feelings can get triggered. These include depression. Another one could be the lack of work recognition. If employees do not feel recognized for their accomplishments, they are most likely to feel upset, sad or overworked.

3 | Address your organizational culture

Another important thing is to address organizational culture around mental health. This is  key to creating progress. 

You can start by giving a voice to mental health. It should be one of your biggest priorities. So, start using stigma-free language regarding mental health within the workplace and make it o.k. for people to talk about it. Use vigilance and train your leadership or managerial teams on policies and protocols to address mental health issues with employees.

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4 | Promote Work-Life Balance

Balancing the demands of life at home with family and friends and g work can be challenging no doubt. If people do not feel that they can keep these demands balanced, one of the consequences could be that they start to feel stressed and frustrated. 

If employees have a lot of workload, they could feel like they do not have enough time to manage their life at home. On the flipside, it is also true that employees with a lot of demands at home could feel overwhelmed at work.

5 | Measure the impact of your efforts

Once mental health and well-being practices on your company are running, it is essential for you to measure the impact of those efforts  both qualitatively and quantitatively. It means continuing to conduct pulse check surveys, encouraging managers to have personalized check-ins as an indicator of valuable qualitative feedback from workers, or reviewing medical and pharmacy claims for a more quantitative approach.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We are focused on providing simple solutions for payroll and taxes, proposing benefits that really feel like benefits, keeping up with employment law and also helping protect your team. Let’s talk!