Mental Health At Work
We should talk about mental health at work.
In fact, we need to be talking about it more.
There still are not enough conversations happening around mental health within the workplace. I believe the main driving factor for this is culture and environment.
Businesses can run all sorts of initiatives, schemes and push out tons of marketing but if their employees don’t believe this is genuine or trust the people around them, it is unlikely that they will reach out as they will be worried about being judged.
Businesses need to ensure that their leaders are equipped to manage with empathy and support people in their teams that could be struggling.
But this isn’t enough. What really makes the difference is normalising the conversation and education across the whole organisation.
What else can we do?
Encourage people to talk about their own experiences, making sure people feel respected whilst doing so.
Support and empower people outside of the leadership team to establish themselves as someone open to talking about mental health and supporting their colleagues.
Provide people different opportunities to learn, not everyone feels ready to come to a company workshop around mental health. They might learn better in private so ensure there are ways for people to do this.
Ask people how they are. But don’t assume because someone has said ‘I’m ok’ this is actually how they feel.
Ask for feedback, and always follow up!
We need to lean into our feelings and emotions and provide people with a safe environment to do the same.
Is flexible working having a positive impact?
I’m a big fan of flexible working, having the flexibility to pick my work schedule and location supports my mental health and ability to create some balance in my life.
But it can mean that people feel isolated and it can also mean that leaders aren’t spotting if people are stressed or near to burn out.
How do you spot these things without becoming a micro-manager?
Again, it comes down to culture and environment. Making sure that people REALLY believe they can pick up the phone to their manager or text a colleague when they need support, this is key!
If your business offers flexible working, you should be speaking to managers about managing workload, making sure they are keeping an eye on this, all of the time.
If you have new people joining the business make sure they have someone to ‘buddy’ with to support them during their onboarding. Starting a new job is daunting, things like this seem so small but they really can make all the difference and provide people with the support network that they need, that will last longer than their onboarding period.
And my final suggestion – let people switch off! Just because we are working from home doesn’t mean we need to work 24/7, encourage people to take proper lunch breaks, turn Slack off and use their annual leave.
What are we doing at Orbis?
✓ We are hosting quarterly workshops around mental health.
✓ We signed the Awareness to Action Pledge from Mental Health in Recruitment.
✓ We launched the two-hour lunch break.
✓ Tom & Hannah-Jane launched the Unplugged podcast.
What is next for Orbis?
We’ll be launching our ‘Let’s Talk Mental Health’ slack group.
Tom, who is completing a diploma in counselling and psychotherapy, is putting together a resources pack for everyone to access.
We’ll be offering more people to become mental health first aiders.
We’ll be providing training for people in leadership roles to spot signs of burnout, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
We’ll be monitoring annual leave more closely
Want to know more?
This week I joined Tom and Hannah on their podcast Unplugged to talk about balance and how mental health is perceived in the workplace, you can listen to this here.
By Jo Jewitt
Jo is one of the Directors at Orbis, leading People and Operations – which includes supporting the inclusion strategy, mental health first aid support and everyone’s personal goals within the business.
