Mental Health at Work: Tips for a Healthy Workplace

At work, your mental health can be just as important as your physical health; yet, it’s often overlooked. Studies have found that the majority of employees aren’t getting enough sleep or exercise and some are even working over 70 hours a week, which could be making them more susceptible to stress, depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. To help you avoid or address these issues in your own workplace, here are some tips on how how to consider and look after your employee’s mental health and well-being.

Create an Inclusive Environment

Establishing a positive, inclusive work environment can be challenging. But if you create the right mental health at work culture, your employees will come to love their jobs and each other. Implement policies that emphasize inclusivity (e.g., non-traditional office hours and flexible schedules). To help employees with mental health issues take care of themselves, offer free resources like counselling or therapy on-site or in close proximity to the workplace so employees are encouraged to pursue treatment.

Encourage Curiosity

It’s important to be open-minded and curious about mental health, especially if you work with people. The more you know, the more likely you are to understand what’s going on in your workplace. Here are some things you can do if someone says they’re struggling with their mental health:
1) Listen without judgment or giving advice.
2) Offer support and resources, such as linking them to help lines or referring them to an organization that offers counselling services.

Celebrate Failure

You have to be able to embrace failure because it is inevitable. It’s not just the successes that make you who you are, it’s also your failures. Failure teaches you what not to do and how to get back up from a fall.

Maintain an Open Door Policy

An open-door policy is one of the most important factors in maintaining a healthy workplace. When an employee has an issue or concern, they should feel comfortable approaching their manager. Managers should also have open-door policies that allow employees to walk into the office and discuss any work-related issues during non-working hours.

Develop Leaders from Within

As a leader, it is your responsibility to make sure that the company culture encourages mental health in the workplace. It’s important that you’re aware of how stress can manifest itself in your employees, and how to provide support when they need it.

Foster Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is the belief that one’s intelligence and skills are not fixed. Instead, they can be developed through hard work and teaching. In contrast, people with a fixed mindset believe that these qualities are innate, and cannot be changed.
People with growth mindsets tend to be more successful than those with fixed mindsets because they’re never satisfied with their current level of performance. They always strive to get better in order to achieve their goals and grow as individuals.

Prioritize Employee Happiness

Here are some tips to help your employees be happy and healthy:

• Offer flexible hours so that people can take care of their personal obligations outside of work.
• Provide food in the workplace so that people don’t have to eat out or cook their own meals.
• Provide opportunities for employees to exercise during the day, such as walking on the treadmill or taking stairs instead of elevators.