Employee Mental Wellbeing

This is the final article exploring the elements of my ‘leading hybrid teams’ model.

This article explores the ‘employee mental wellbeing’ element.

The model highlights the areas in which leadership competency needs to be elevated to successfully lead high performing hybrid teams.

All leaders should have employee mental wellbeing as the priority. Not one of many priorities but the priority. Mind Share Partners say that in 2019 employers were just grasping the prevalence of the health challenges in the workplace. In 2020, mental health went from a nice-to-have to a true business imperative. In 2021, the stakes were raised even higher thanks to a greater awareness of the workplace factors that contribute to poor mental health. Unfortunately, employers have not done enough to address the issue. 2022 is the time to connect what they say to what they do.

Mental wellbeing

So many have been through so much since March 2020. COVID, social distancing, lockdowns, remote working, sickness and fatalities, uncertainty, and concern, return to the office, have all had an impact on the mental wellbeing of our employees.

Even as we move into 2022 and try to put the last two years behind us, mental wellbeing must be the priority for every organization.

The uncertainties, concerns, and anxieties are not going away. Whilst many of us saw COVID as a once in a lifetime event or once in a decade event, the researchers are telling us otherwise. Eleni Smitham and Amanda Glassman writing for Center for Global Development said:

“Their results are worrying and put risk much higher than many seem to expect. They estimate the annual probability of a pandemic on the scale of COVID-19 in any given year to be between 2.5-3.3 percent, which means a 47-57 percent chance of another global pandemic as deadly as COVID in the next 25 years. 

Bill Gates who is accredited with predicting that an infectious virus would kill millions of people across the globe five years before COVID did just that, has now predicted what the next two big crisis will be – climate change and bioterrorism.

Willem H. Buiter - an adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University and global chief economist at Citigroup from 2010 to 2018 has said (October 2021) that the next financial crisis is fast approaching.

Therefore, the concerns and worries abide post-COVID. The end of a pandemic should not see the end of organizations looking after the mental wellbeing of their employees. In fact, it should see it ramped up on a massive scale.

Holistic and contextual

A mental wellbeing platform should be holistic and contextual. This is the time to stop kidding yourself that the sweat patch that tells employee they are stressed; the happy or sad wrist band; the gym membership; the mindfulness and meditation classes; the Friday yoga sessions; the gratitude app; will take care of employee mental wellbeing. It won’t

Whilst all these things have value, on their own they are point solutions. A couple of colleagues and I, passionate about this topic, put together this 3-minute animation in early 2021 to raise awareness of the situation.

A point solution example is the provision of Mental Health First Aiders. Whilst I applaud the initiative, the fact is if there is a stigma around mental health in the workplace, employees will not reach out for help. They will not seek out these resources due to fear of repercussion or reprisal.

The mental wellbeing platform must address the needs of everyone in the organization (holistic) and meet the needs of employees at a point in time (contextual). Employees need specific tools and resources that will help them address the challenges or adversities they face at a given point in time. As an industry colleague, Paula Davis, once said, “You cannot yoga your way out of burnout.”

Remove the stigma

As mentioned above, every organization and the leaders within it, must work to remove the stigma of mental health at work. Mental health stigma is the negative view or attitude to people struggling with their mental health, including those living with a mental health condition, such as anxiety or depression.

The stigma can lead to discrimination and harassment and prevent those struggling with their mental health from feeling safe to disclose and seek support from their employer or others around them. If the stigma is not removed, all the other tools and resources provided will be a waste of time and money, as no-one will feel safe to utilize them.

Leaders need to learn more about mental health and how best to respond in the workplace; educate their teams; and speak openly about mental health in the workplace which can make others feel more comfortable to do the same. Employers need to raise awareness through education and resources and encourage open and honest conversations.

Remove the cause

Another shift organizations must make is to stop only concentrating on the effects of mental health issues in the workplace but give as much, if not more, attention to the causes.

There are many actions that can be taken including managing workloads, encouraging respectful behaviors with a zero tolerance for harassment, and promoting work-life balance.

The crux of the matter is to take the time to find out what is causing mental health issues for your employees in your organization and then taking action to remove the cause.

Know the signs

It is imperative that everyone knows the signs to look for that may indicate someone could be having mental health issues and know the right action to take.

Signs could be changes in language, demeanour, or behavior.

Leaders, and employees, are often reluctant to reach out and ask if someone is ok in case, they say they are not. The reason is they don’t know what to do next, so they avoid the situation.

Leaders especially need to be able to reach out to their team members and check-in on them if they suspect everything is not as it should be. They need to know that they are not expected to be medical professionals, general practitioners, or psychologists. They just have to know the right thing to say and help the person find the help that they need.

Leaders then need to check-in on a regular basis to find out how the person is progressing whilst offering them continual support and compassion.

Summary

It is time to take a step back and take a hard look at the state of mental health in your workplace through a much wider lens.

What are the risks, the causes, and the impacts? Provide a holistic and contextual platform that addresses the needs of everyone in your organization. Educate, educate, educate, Talk, talk, talk, and listen.