One of the most monumental changes in the last decade is the increasing conversations around mental health in the workplace. Issues with mental health have always been around but until the last few years, they were matters to be hidden away for fear of being fired over these issues. Now, employees are growing more confident with acknowledging it as a part of their lives and employers have become more supportive about promoting mental health in the workplace. This is not to say that the problem has been resolved entirely and mental health issues at work are entirely absent—the pressures of modern life have only heightened the internal struggles and pressures on working adults—but the positive trend towards change is undeniable.
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According to the World Health Organization, approximately 12 billion working days are compromised every year as a result of depression and anxiety, annually costing up to $1 trillion in productivity. 15 percent of adults are believed to have a mental disorder, and with workplace stress and discrimination piled on to it, burnout becomes almost inevitable. With such unfortunate circumstances on the rise, businesses need to learn how to support mental health at work in order to aid their employees towards stability while also ensuring that the company as a whole remains at its productive best at all times.
Mental Health in the Workplace
If you believe that mental health issues do not affect employees at your organization, then consider that according to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 6.8 people experience mental health problems in the workplace. Even if that number does not seem large to you, consider that nearly 12.7 percent of all sick day leaves that employees take can be attributed to mental health conditions. According to an article by CNBC, Forrester Consulting found that 49 percent of employees were fearful of discussing their mental health at work for fear of losing their jobs. It is quite likely that even when your employees are not openly discussing it with the organization, many are suffering in silence, taking on the burdens of work despite being overwhelmed by it.
Many employers disregard these numbers because they do not believe their employee health affects them but happy employees are 13 percent more productive at work. A study by the American Psychological Association (APA) found 23 percent of their survey respondents reporting a desire to quit due to workplace burnout, while 25 percent wanted to keep to themselves instead of being social at work, and 19 percent have felt their irritability growing with coworkers. Intentional or not, workplace burnout and mental health struggles can eventually leak into the quality of work and cause havoc when employers do not do anything to minimize it.
Signs of Mental Health Issues at Work
Before you get to the stage of promoting mental health in the workplace, you should be equipped to identify the signs of mental issues at work so you can take action accordingly. Some signs might be glaringly obvious, such as multiple anger outbursts at work or excessive absenteeism despite going over the allotted number of leaves. Having a conversation in such cases can be fruitful for employers and employees where solutions can be found immediately.
However, signs of mental health issues in the workspace are not always as obvious and might require HR teams and upper management to keep a more considerate eye out for their employees. This does not mean that businesses should rush to diagnose their employees as there could be many reasons for the behaviors they display, including problems at work or a temporary stressor. Mental health in the workplace should never be weaponized or used to accuse employees of slacking off. These signs are only meant to open the door to a conversation on what can be done to help.
- Frequent tardiness and inability to keep up with work deadlines
- Constant tiredness and apparent exhaustion or frequent illness
- Inconsistent moods and frequent fluctuations
- Sudden change in personality traits—includes withdrawal from projects, social circles, and activities
- Extreme nervousness and being on the edge
- Difficulty concentrating, keeping up with instructions, completing tasks, etc.
- Frequent conflicts with team members
- Decline in the quality of work that isn’t resolved by changing work parameters
- Increased sensitivity as compared to their previous demeanour
- Decline of interest in initiatives
How to Support Mental Health at Work
You might feel confident that you’re already doing enough in terms of promoting mental health in the workplace but the actual reality of work is often quite different. While 70 percent of work executives felt their employees perceived their mental health initiatives at work to be sufficient, only 53 percent of employees felt comfortable actually making use of benefits like paid time off. While making such resources and policies available is commendable, workplace cultures often frown on actually using these resources, inevitably discouraging employees. Supporting mental health at work requires a cultural acceptance of these concepts at work in order to be effective.
Provide Safe Working Conditions
Working under dangerous conditions can be stressful, no matter how good your overall mental health is. Employees who deal with hazardous materials or have dangerous responsibilities are under a constant state of worry about something going wrong and staying on the edge consistently can be very unnerving. Ensuring safety precautions, providing protective equipment, and regularly checking machinery and fail-safes are all great ways to put their mind at ease.
Even for 9-to-5 jobs that do not come with the threat of losing a limb, the workplace can feel unsafe if there is violence and harassment at work. Verbal aggression, derogatory remarks, threats of violence and firing, predatory behaviors, and inappropriate conversations are all examples of unsafe working conditions where employees remain unnerved by the possibility of words turning into action. To maintain optimal levels of mental health in the workplace, companies need to acknowledge these challenges and devise solutions for them.
Improve Quality of Life for Employees
Employers cannot guarantee perfect lives for their employees but they can aid them in getting there themselves. Organizations need to understand their workforce and the challenges they are facing at work, so there is no excessive work stress that they carry over into their daily lives. Ensuring that work remains a part of their lives is a major factor that most employers need to guarantee. Prolonged work hours, being contacted outside of work, inability to relax even on vacation, and forced participation in team activities during the weekends are just a few examples of how work often tends to spread into an employee’s outside life and this should be strictly avoided.
Employers should regularly assess employee workloads and take action when there is an imbalance within the company. This could be through reassigning tasks and dividing the workload more evenly, shuffling members between departments when certain tasks have heavier demands, hiring when the workload has permanently increased, putting certain tasks on hold until major projects are complete, etc. Work fluctuations are inevitable but the responses to them need to be just as quick.
Changing the Work Culture
Employees who feel their work cultures are supportive of their well-being are more likely to commit to their work with the same intensity and take breaks when they need to. It is always evident when employees come in to work feeling rejuvenated from a break as opposed to those who appear even more exhausted with the prospect of returning to work. This reluctance is often due to toxic work cultures that do not bring any positivity into the employee’s life.
Addressing the work culture requires the change to begin with leadership and through the company’s policies, with an aim to indicate to employees what beahviors need to be followed and what actions are unacceptable. When the senior management is able to act as role models for the desired behavior, the rest of the organization is likely to follow suit.
Communicating Regularly: Promoting Mental Health in the Workplace
It is difficult to develop supportive mental health initiatives when you can’t identify what the employees are struggling with. A workforce that is largely run by an older population with caregiver responsibilities while a younger group might have more career-oriented worries and concerns. It might also be the opposite for some employees but due to our broad generalization of the two demographics, we might miss out on providing the right support. To improve mental health in the workplace, regularly reach out to employees to check in on how they are doing and what assistance the organization might be able to provide.
This communication can also keep employers in the loop regarding workplace conflicts that employees might not be able to bring up on their own. A very difficult manager or a colleague who harasses their coworkers might be bringing down the mental peace of the whole team but reporting it overtly can put the employee’s job at risk. Inviting workers to regularly communicate and bring up these issues with management can help employees feel heard while also allowing the management to improve their company’s work environment.
Many other avenues of support might come to light following a conversation with an employee—some might require more flexible work hours due to their commute time, and others might need to scale down on their responsibilities for a month in order to maintain their health. Still other employees might benefit from having a counsellor available within the organization who they can talk to, as seeking help outside can be quite expensive. To retain employees, boost morale, and create a space where mental health issues at work can be openly attended to and resolved, companies need to start today and work their way up to gain their employees’ trust, moving in tandem with them to create a successful organization.