Why organisations must address mental health with as much gravitas as they do physical health

Traditional employee wellbeing programmes are falling short. They often focus primarily on physical wellness, with broad goals that do little to encourage motivation and participation. When tackling the challenge of creating a holistic employee wellbeing strategy, organisations must address mental health with as much gravitas as they do physical health.

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The topic of mental health in the workplace can no longer be shied away from with 15.4 million working days lost every year due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety¹. According to the latest research from The O.C. Tanner Institute, which surveyed 476 UK working adults at companies with 500+ employees, nearly one fifth of UK workers (19 per cent) admit to being dissatisfied with their life. On top of this, 14 per cent feel as though their life is spiralling out of control and nearly a quarter (23 per cent) feel unable to cope with everything life may throw at them. Given the potential implications this has for both individuals and organisations alike, it is crucial to consider mental health as a large contributing factor to overall employee wellbeing.

How to make a change
Here are some suggestions on how you can make sure mental health is kept front of mind and considered a fundamental element in your wellbeing strategy:

Make mental health an organisational priority – Any company can hold a one-off seminar around mental health, but this lack lustre approach will do little to suggest to staff that you’re taking the issue seriously. You need the buy-in of your senior managers. If there isn’t an overall acceptance from the top-down that mental health needs to be tackled, then any initiatives will simply fall flat.
Encourage a dialogue around mental wellbeing – It’s vital to have open discussions around mental health. Encourage senior leaders to discuss times in their lives when they’ve battled mental health problems as this will make it ‘acceptable’ for other members of the organisation to ‘open-up’. You need to change the common mindset that discussing mental health will be to the detriment of an individual’s career. Mental health charity ‘MIND’ found that one in four people in the UK will suffer some kind of mental health issues each year2 and the causes can be anything from short-term money worries to ongoing feelings of depression. With mental health issues so commonplace it is imperative that employees feel no judgement for speaking up and asking for help.
Help ease everyday stresses – Recognise that stress can bring on mental health issues and so ensure this is dealt with by championing a calm and positive working environment. As part of this, endorse a good work-life balance in which long hours and emails out of normal working hours are discouraged. You must also make staff feel appreciated and recognised for the effort they put in and ensure that your leadership culture is one of mentorship, advocacy and empowerment rather than control and power. And by enabling regular touch-points with direct leads, rather than an ineffectual once a year review, this will help to identify if someone is struggling while ensuring consistent and meaningful conversations are ongoing.
Provide mental health training – As well as coaching your leadership team on the topic of mental health, you should also look to establish a network of trained and trusted ‘mental health first-aiders’ from all levels and areas of the organisation. Approaching a manager can sometimes be daunting, however discussing an issue with a colleague can be often be far less intimidating. Look to create ongoing workshops and equip your managers and ‘mental health first-aiders’ with the training they need to, not only help those who come forward seeking help, but to identify when staff may be struggling and requiring support. You should also provide guidance to HR departments and leaders on how they can manage staff who may be absent due to mental health problems.
Communicate effectively– Make sure that there is clear and regular communication about which mental health services are available to employees so they know how they can seek help. Also ensure there are options for employees to seek help anonymously and promote this via your intranet or other easy-to-access platforms.

"Mental illness is not a personal failure. In fact, if there is failure, it is to be found in the way we have responded to people with mental and brain disorders," said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of World Health Organisation.3 Mental health in the workplace can be a tricky topic to tackle as it’s so often viewed as taboo, but it’s crucial to address it because it’s not going away! With all aspects of work being impacted by poor mental health, from sickness levels and productivity through to employee engagement, now’s the time to act!

The author is Kerry Drury, culture and engagement strategist at O.C. Tanner Europe.

This article is provided by O.C.Tanner.

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