Mental Health at Work: 3 Ways to Overcome the Mental Health Crisis

With all the stressors of the past year, it’s no wonder we’re in a mental health crisis - in the workplace and at home. When 9/10 employees say workplace stress affects their home life, and 4/5 say they feel emotionally drained from their work - something must be done to support employee mental health. 

In the age of “The Great Resignation,” you can’t afford to lose workers to mental health issues. So how do you help your employees navigate these unchartered waters and provide the support they need

Promote Transparency

Having honest and open communication is the best way to breed trust in any organization. Workers should feel comfortable talking with their bosses or HR about mental health issues they’re struggling with. Talking about it helps reduce stigma and make others feel more comfortable coming forward. 

With over half of employees saying they received a negative response when talking about mental health at work, open communication can make a big difference in retention rates.

Be proactive in encouraging transparency in workforce communications. Be sure to be up-front from the start. 

Begin with a candidate experience that removes the guesswork, informs your soon-to-be new hire about your company and your location. If you’re relocating an employee, provide all the information up front - like key deadlines and timeframes, expectations and assistance. The right employee and candidate solutions start with full transparency. 

Promote a positive employee experience. Carry the theme of transparency throughout an employee’s tenure and let them know you’re all part of a team that values keeping their employees in the loop rather blindsiding them later on.

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Encourage Work/Life Balance

The age of working yourself to death is over. Employees want to be able to leave their work at work. Encourage employees to work their allotted hours and stop. Asking for extra hours, especially last minute, makes for unhappy people. Be careful calling workers outside of normal business hours, it adds stress and resentment - and that leads to burnout. 

The key to retention is employee satisfaction. If you’re providing what the employee needs, they’ll want to stay.

Advertise EAP benefits

Most companies offer great EAP benefits that the majority of their employees don’t even realize exist. It’s important to advertise and talk about your EAP benefits often. Many EAPs offer free financial advice, therapy and resources for family members with disabilities. Some even offer counseling to deal with work-related stressors like starting a new job and relocating along with life’s stressors like divorce or the stress of caring for an elderly parent. 

If you don’t talk about these benefits, your employees will forget about them. Use your already existing EAP benefits as a preventative measure to employee burnout.

Human Resources Today