Your employee’s mental health is more than seeing them working well and being free of work-related stress. From our last article “How Poor Mental Health Affects Your Business”, you also learned that there are negative impacts on your business if your employees’ mental and emotional health isn’t a priority in your organization’s plans. 

In a high work demand country like Singapore, most of the workers are required to be multi-tasking and have a high mental focus -and if the workload keeps increasing, the employees will experience a lack of work control. In this 3rd year of the pandemic, 2021, a survey by software firm Oracle found that seven of ten residents in Singapore acknowledged it as the most stressful year at work.

According to the findings, good mental health state at work and good work environment management evince that workplace with high levels of mental health really improves employee’s productivity. Especially for a big environment like a company, employees' mental wellness could not be realized by employees only but companies have an essential role to implement a mental health at the workplace as well. And to address the challenges of mental health at work, HR and managers have a powerful position to change the bad stigma of mental health.

So, what’s the best way to implement mental health support in your workplace?

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but it’s all about listening to your employees, recognizing the little things that hurt mental health, and actively taking action to improve the work environment. Therefore, HR and managers are the right roles to supervise and recognize employees’ struggles with anxiety, burnout, fatigue, and even depression. These mental health experiences can be caused by various variables such as discrimination, excessive workload, mismatched job role, lack of support, ineffective line of communication, poor work environment, and many others. What can leaders like us do to support employee’s wellness? Here are some helpful strategies to become a better advocate of mental health at work:

1. Encourage anonymous feedback on work culture topics

This is a great opportunity for your employees to express their honest opinions about the work culture, their experiences, and any other work-related issues. This also helps your management teams be more objective to the problems at hand.

2. Actively communicate your organisation’s intentions to destigmatise mental health

It’s important to let your employees know that you care. Learn to create a safe and inclusive space for all to be themselves, no matter what mental state they may be in. In addition, you can also encourage everyone to celebrate behaviors that destigmatize mental health, and gently remind those who are making others feel discriminated against to empathize with the affected parties. 

3. Provide official channels for employees to receive mental health support

Set up official support systems for your employees to actively seek help, and make sure there’s a human to reach out to when your mental health resources are just not enough. 

4. Grow your employees communication skills

Help your employees become more aware of what mental health is and isn’t, so they know when and how to communicate what they’re experiencing. Not only does this help them become more expressive when they need help, it can also foster a culture where employees are actively keeping themselves in healthy mental states within their teams.

5. Complement work with out-of-work activities

Try organizing regular activities like inter-team tournaments or themed experiences to foster healthier relationships between colleagues.

6. Consider mental health as part of your employees compensation packages

If your organization hasn’t thought about providing mental health benefits, it’s time to think about it now. There are corporate health insurances that cover visits to a psychologist nowadays, and group classes and workshops to provide them with mental health strategies. The choices are endless so take your pick!

Prioritizing mental health is an investment, and it’s hard knowing how to get it right without disrupting your business. At SgFitFam, we offer flexible corporate packages tailored to get your team started on a journey of cultivating good mental health at work. Contact us today to find out more or subscribe to our newsletter for more mental health content by filling the form below!