4 Ways to Improve Employee Mental Health in the Workplace
Creating a working environment that supports the well-being of your employees has never been more important. From inefficient processes to overly rigid work schedules, bad experiences can make your employees feel overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted. All of which can negatively impact their mental health and productivity.
So here are four specific steps you can take to make employee well-being priority at your company;
1. Install onsite facilities
Employees who exercise are more productive and less likely to suffer from work burnout. One of the easiest ways to promote a healthy lifestyle is to make it easier for employees to ride their bicycles, walk to work, or exercise during breaks. Not only will this improve the wellbeing of your employees but it will also make them feel proud that they are doing their bit for the planet during their daily commute.
By providing showers and stylish bathroom facilities in your workplace, your employees can take more rigorous forms of commuting, then prepare for the day with the confidence that they will still look and smell their best! By promoting such activity, your employees will be more active and subsequently happier, more productive, and more likely to be satisfied with their job.
2. Encourage positive habits
Educating your employees on how to practice good stress management is an effective way to prioritize well-being in the workplace. Sleeping and eating correctly, for example, are vital to managing stress, so stocking the break room with fresh produce or healthy snacks will help ensure employees don’t make the mistake of fueling their stress with unhealthy sugary products.
A proven method to tackle sleep issues among employees is to encourage mindfulness and meditation. With that in mind, bringing in a mindfulness coach to host a seminar is one way to help your employees get their eight hours of sleep, while combating heightened stress levels in the process.
To further reduce stress levels amongst your workforce, minimize employees’ concerns about their performance by always providing recognition—if they do something good, praise them for it. Not only will this ensure a more positive mindset around the office, but it’s also an effective way to increase overall productivity. To further this productivity, encourage employees to speak up about unrealistic deadlines and heavy workloads to create a manageable and less stressful professional environment.
Prioritizing emails and calls that require an immediate response is a tried and tested way to avoid your employees feeling disorientated. Actively promote task management to ensure employees to stay focused, limit distractions, deliver on time, and feel more confident about what they deliver.
Implementing an on-site wellness program is a great way to further invest in the health of your employees. Programs that offer health and wellness education along with incentives for healthy actions, such as a bonus for quitting smoking, could be very effective. Incorporating all these practices into your workplace will alleviate stressed employees, boosting morale and subsequently improving performance.
3. Recommend separating from work
Ensuring your employees take advantage of their full lunch breaks, leave on time, and enjoy their holidays is key to increasing wellness and productivity. Working for long stretches without breaks leads to stress and exhaustion, whereas breaks will help to refresh the mind, replenish your employees’ mental resources, and could also encourage their creativity.
During their holidays, encouraging employees to switch off their email notifications is an excellent way to promote proper relaxation. After all, feeling tense about missing work while you should be relaxing defeats the purpose of a holiday. Leaving an out of office message with guidelines on what to do if an email is urgent will combat this issue. This way, notifications won’t eat into your employees’ well deserved break, leaving them fresh and ready for Monday morning upon their return.
4. Rethink the working week
Watching working hours morph from 9-5 into 9-7 is very common in the workplace. However, it’s worth questioning how productive your employees are when they’re switched on for long hours.
De-structuring the typical workday so that your employees can be their most effective and efficient could solve this issue. For example, scheduling work time for four hours on a morning and four hours in the afternoon or considering telecommuting will maximize productivity and minimize stress. This will also allow your employees to schedule time to practice their hobbies or attend to family requirements. By switching the way we think about work, prioritizing well-being in the workplace becomes a whole lot easier.
Your health is in your own hands, so making healthy changes in the workplace should always be a priority. By making small changes, promoting and prioritizing well-being in the workplace will improve morale, decrease stress, and enhance productivity—all to the eventual benefit of your business.
Reference:
https://www.vault.com/blogs/workplace-issues/4-ways-to-improve-employee-mental-health-in-the-workplace