How to proactively manage the mental health of your employees

According to The Australian newspaper, over 1 million Australians have sought mental health treatment during Covid 19.  In Victoria this is a real worry with a 30% rise in mental health cases presenting over the 4-week period from mid-September.

Mental health is a concern for businesses in normal times, but in these unpreceded times this data demonstrates the potential crisis that our society is facing.

Beyond Blue www.beyondblue.org.au shares that around one in five Australian employees are working with a mental health condition. Mental health conditions are common and don’t discriminate, the most resilient person can be affected by work stress, as well as other life challenges.

They also state that the many benefits of a mentally healthy workplace include; improving productivity, increased employee engagement, lower turnover, meeting ethical and legal obligations and employee connectedness is greater.

As a manager or leader, you can help support your team in managing their mental health.  Here are some tips to doing this. 

Listen and be flexible

Listen to your team and be as flexible as you can, understand their personal situation and be as adaptable as possible to help support their work-life balance and mental health.  Working from home for many people has created new challenges and extra stress, so offering flexibility, having realistic expectations and understanding their personal situation will help you support your team members with their individual needs.  Show your true self, sharing a personal story with your team can be very powerful, revealing that you can also be vulnerable allows others to connect with you more and see you a person, not just their manager.

Communicate regularly and share what is going on

Regularly check in with your team and ask them how they really are going is important.  Truly listen and understand what their needs are. Seek to find out if they need any extra support, again listen and keep the communication lines open.  Each person will be different and how they are feeling will change, so keep asking and adapt your style to suit the individual. Where possible share as much as you can with your team about what is going on in the business and be clear and realistic in your expectations of them.

Workplace connectedness

Research is showing that connectedness is at its greatest at the moment within many teams.  Which is fabulous, we all need human connection for our overall wellbeing. Teammates play an important role in supporting each other as well as managers.  If colleagues feel comfortable to share and check in with each other this can help to make them feel more valued and connected to their workplace.   This usually happens organically but if it doesn’t promote this in your teams.  Team activities and working on shared projects or goals can help bring these work connections together.  Having fun also helps! Chat to your team about what activities make work fun. 

Wellbeing initiatives and mental health support

Encourage your team to take up any wellbeing initiatives that your company offers.  Some employees might be interested in knowing about personal and professional development opportunities to keep them motivated.  This doesn’t have to be costly, there are lots of free webinars available at the moment.  Where possible provide access to counselling services and mental health and wellbeing support, is a key component to supporting the mental wellbeing of employees.  If you have an Employee assistance program, they usually in addition to counselling have access for employees to mental health and wellbeing education sessions, that is just as important as educating leaders and managers.

Provide ongoing training for leaders on mental health and wellbeing. Not for profit organisations like Beyond Blue and Black Dog Institute have many valuable resources that everyone can access.

Take a break

Currently in Melbourne we are unable to travel very far, so people haven’t been taking annual leaving and having a break.  Encourage your team to take a long weekend or some time off. This is really important for mental health and recharging their social and emotional wellbeing.  People are feeling burnt out which can often trigger mental health concerns. Lead by example and take a break yourself,  a refreshed manager is much more effective for their team!

Looking to unite your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid