Let’s face it: mental health has detrimental effects on the productivity of your employees. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 US adults experiences mental illness each year. What does this mean for you?
Some of your employees could be undergoing presenteeism as we speak! Worrying, right?
Fret not, however, for we have come up with 4 tips to promote mental health and mental wellness at the workplace. Let’s dive right in!
1. Train Your Managers on Mental Health�
Adopt a top-down approach when it comes to promoting mental health at the workplace. How can you achieve this? Get your managers on board by training them on mental health awareness to enable them to identify and act upon signs of mental distress from your employees.
Also, promote an open mental health culture in the workplace. Make it easy for your employees to know how and where they can get help for their mental health. This can help promote mental health in the workplace.
2. Encourage Employees to Use Their Leave Days for Vacation
Taking days off can be beneficial to your employees’ mental health.
How so?
When you go on vacation, the new experiences that you encounter help reset your mind and improve your brain function.
A vacation allows you to reduce stress and do away with depression. The time off also helps you to regain your motivation by re-aligning your life goals and renewing your purpose.
For these reasons, you should encourage your employees to utilize their leave days for vacation. This helps promote mental health in the workplace.
3. Promote Well-Being at the Workplace
There’s another way to look out for your employees’ mental health. Promoting well-being. You can do this by encouraging social events like luncheons, organizing board game breaks at work, and planning outdoor team-building activities. You can also encourage physical exercises by signing your employees up for yoga or spin classes.
Another way to promote well-being is by introducing flexible working hours. If your employees are enabled to work from home, then you should encourage flexible work schedules to break the monotony of coming to work. Therefore, look to encouraging well-being as a way of promoting mental health in the workplace.
4. Offer Mental Health Insurance as a Benefit
As HR, it is in your best interest to ensure that the benefits package includes mental health insurance for your employees. This works in your favor since if employees feel like you care about them, then they will be more committed to performing their duties. As a result, you get a more productive workforce.
Mental health insurance policies support your employees by providing 24/7 counseling, mental therapy, and substance use disorder services. This goes a long way in promoting mental health in the workplace. Therefore, ensure your employee benefits package includes mental health insurance.
All in all, mental health is vital in ensuring that your workforce stays healthy and productive. At Modern HR, we strive to bring clarity and simplification to the art of human resources. If these tips are helpful to you, contact us today to know more about how you can promote mental health in the workplace.
