An estimated 264 million people suffer globally from depression and symptoms of anxiety resulting in about US $1 trillion loss in productivity per year. As a result, it is extremely important as an employer to consider ways in which you are supporting employee mental health in the workplace.
There are many ways that you can foster a healthy workplace as you ensure that a safe, respectful, stress-free environment exists in order to eliminate any exposures to individual well-being and safety. Some measures include but are not limited to:
Work-Life Balance
Encouraging your employees to take breaks, vacation time and spend time building a rich life outside of work is an important criterion that employees actively seek in their day to day. When leadership takes initiative to foster a healthy work-life balance and recognizes that employees have priorities outside of the workplace, individuals work more productively and are more keen to stay with the employer due to positive culture management.
Discussing Mental Health
It is important as employers to initiate discussions around mental health, anxiety, stress management in the workplace. Providing your leadership team with adequate training on how they can identify symptoms relating to burnout or mental health is a pro-active measure to foster a positive work culture. It is beneficial to ensure that a professional mental health advocate or therapist is accessible to employees at all times so they can get the assistance and guidance that they need.
EAP Benefits
If your company participates in an active group health insurance plan, consider enacting the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The EAP program is a confidential service available 24/7 for all employees to gain access to. Depending on the services, an EAP can support with legal, psychological and wellness counselling support at no cost. It is also available confidentially through an external hotline.
For more tips relating to advocating for a positive work culture, speak to a Bridge HR Consultant today by contacting us at info@bridgehr.co!
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