Providing a healthy environment is more than just a regulatory and ethical duty for businesses. It also directly impacts workers’ happiness and engagement. Human resources (HR) departments are increasingly discovering how vital it is to focus on developing protocols for a mentally healthy workplace.
After all, when workers are psychologically, emotionally, and socially supported, they thrive in the business. This boosts retention and productivity. They may even turn into ambassadors, which is great for recruitment. It’s worth committing time and energy to understand what practical steps make the workplace mentally healthy.
Prioritize Mental Wellness from the Outset
Creating a mentally healthy workplace involves placing wellness front and center from the outset of employment. Doing so influences your workers’ perspectives on how vital their wellness is to your business, which impacts their experience. The earlier they learn about the processes and tools you have to care for their mental health, the more opportunities they have to use them.
This journey begins with building mental wellness into the protocols for new employees’ first days and weeks with the business. Effective employee onboarding can boost morale, carefully guiding new hires through the challenges of entering an unfamiliar environment, organization, and culture. It’s a chance to clearly communicate the values and expectations of the business, which can be reassuring and provide clarity on goals. Assigning buddies from similar backgrounds as part of this process provides practical information and can help new employees feel less stressed or alone at this transitional time.
Another vital thing to communicate from onboarding onward is your business’s mental wellness resources. Consider introducing subsidized services as benefits that can empower workers to minimize the negative influences on their health. These benefits could include telehealth counseling and free access to meditation and mindfulness mobile apps. Sharing a document during onboarding outlining these and how to access them can give new employees the tools they need to thrive and sends a clear message about your company’s commitment to care for workers.
Create a Supportive Culture
A truly healthy environment is implemented on a cultural level. This involves HR departments collaborating with executives to bake high wellness standards into the core of the company and ensuring that everyone, from entry-level employees to executives, understands how to prioritize their mental wellness and that of their colleagues.
One of the most important steps is to cultivate openness. Among the difficulties many workers find in maintaining their mental health is that there can be a lot of stigma around wellness issues. As a result, they might hesitate to communicate their challenges and needs in ways that ensure they get the assistance that can really make a difference to them and minimize workplace disruption.
Company handbooks should state outright that this is an anti-stigma workplace and that discussions about wellness are encouraged. Importantly, it needs to be clear that seeking mental healthcare doesn’t negatively affect career prospects and that the company supports their treatment. Leadership can also set a good example by openly talking about how they’re feeling, their challenges, and what the company does to help them overcome these difficulties.
Another hallmark of a supportive company is to embrace a sustainable workplace culture. This is about adopting green measures that don’t just affect the operations of the business but the well-being of employees and the wider community. For instance, energy conservation and investing in renewable electricity minimizes your company’s emissions contributions that affect public wellness. At a time when more workers are prioritizing environmental friendliness, you’re showing your company has a culture that supports employees’ values, which affects their overall satisfaction.
Reinforce a Work-Life Balance
A good work-life balance is essential for safeguarding workers’ well-being. It also helps to minimize productivity disruption and turnover resulting from employee burnout. Doing so puts less pressure on HR departments to implement unexpected hiring protocols or manage absenteeism.
If you’re unsure where to start, it can be useful to examine the attitudes of companies in countries with a good work-life balance. For instance, in Denmark, it is culturally expected that strict boundaries will be set for starting and finishing work. Your company can ensure employees only maintain reasonable working hours, with overtime reserved for extreme circumstances only. If workers can’t get everything done within this time, this is a hiring issue that needs to be addressed so it doesn’t impact the wellness of employees.
Another important resource is vacation time. Paid time off must be provided to ensure workers can spend quality time with their families and decompress without fearing they won’t be able to pay the rent. Indeed, HR should insist on workers using their paid time off without this being seen as a lack of commitment to the company.
Conclusion
When HR departments collaborate with executives to create a more mentally healthy environment, everyone benefits. This involves a range of measures, from creating a culture of support to providing solid resources. It’s equally important to regularly seek staff feedback on these issues. They can provide insights into what’s working well and what the company can improve. It’s also another way to demonstrate how much the business genuinely cares about their employees.
Katie Brenneman is a Guest Contributor at HR Daily Advisor.
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