Mental health in the workplace

Like it or not, mental health and wellness levels of employees come into the workplace every morning as people start work, having a direct correlation to employee productivity, relationships at work and overall business results.

It was a pleasure to learn from a diverse range of panelists and share my own experiences in this area last week at the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Conference in Singapore.

Some of the key areas I discussed were:

1. Normalising mental health conversations at work and embedding into culture, with quality of communication being much more important than modes. For example leaders sharing personal stories matters much more than psychological theory.

2. How employees can find safe ways to raise concern on a colleagues stress levels, even if the department head may be unresponsive or lacking empathy.

3. The important and indispensable role of team leaders who need to be coached and educated on these areas, vis a vis relying only on the HR department.

4. Airplane oxygen mask model - leaders should assess their own stress levels and ease off on others in their team and also on themselves from time to time.

5. Look inwards - assess workplace culture and measure effectiveness of mental health efforts

6. Encourage people to use resources like EAPs or employee support groups, ensuring confidentiality and removing stigma

Look forward to hearing your own experiences in this area - do comment below.

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