Employees aren’t just cogs in a business’s wheel. They’re human beings with complex emotions and needs. Burnout is rampaging through every industry, and it’s high time companies started taking employee mental health seriously. 

When employees are fulfilled, motivated, and engaged in their roles, they are more productive and likely to stay with their company long term.

You can implement the following tips to reduce stress in the workplace and support employees in their efforts to lead healthy, balanced, and fulfilling lives.

Create And Implement Strong Mental Health Policies

Policies show employees that you put your money where your mouth is. After all, mental health awareness means very little unless backed up with solid systems and policies that actively work to support and advocate for employees. 

Your business can implement several policies to show its dedication to keeping employees healthy, engaged, and thriving. The option to work from home is perhaps the most popular of these policies, with over 94% of people claiming they want remote flexibility. 

The ability to move between home and work allows employees to structure their routines in a way that better suits their personal needs. From looking after children to getting more exercise to simply operating from the comfort of home, remote work flexibility is one of the most effective ways to support employee wellbeing. 

Another impactful policy to implement is including mental health in employee healthcare plans. This will make it easier for them to seek support from a professional when needed and cultivate a better relationship with stress management.

Offer Easy Access To Mental Health Resources 

Not everyone has the time, money, or inclination to seek therapy or mental health support on their own. However, your company can encourage this kind of healthy behaviour by providing easy access to services such as counseling, psychotherapy, and employee assistance programs.

If these options are a little out of budget, there are other options to explore. Simple resources like a meditation room, mindfulness training, or even a comfortable outdoor area can also provide levity between workdays and promote better mental health.

Foster A Culture Of Clear Communication

Communication is integral to any healthy work environment. Clearly and openly discussing plans and expectations around everything from designated tasks to upcoming changes helps your employees feel more prepared to execute their responsibilities. 

Clear communication also reduces the likelihood of mistakes or misunderstandings, both of which can be a cause for stress and anxiety. Studies show that companies with well-established communication systems have happier, more productive, and less stressed out employees.

Provide Mental Health Training For Managers 

Often, the reason behind poor mental health in an office environment is a lack of understanding. Not many people are born with the natural ability to detect distress in those around them. But it is a skill that can be learnt over time. 

By providing mental health training for managers and supervisors, you can equip those in positions of power to identify employees in need of support and take appropriate action where needed. Mental health training is an empowering process that benefits everyone in the office.

Give Regular Feedback And Recognition 

Receiving feedback from your superiors, managers, and co-workers can boost self-confidence and contribute to higher levels of motivation for employees. 

Recognising and rewarding good performance is also a good way to show employees that you are invested in their progress as individuals and are willing to engage with them on a more personal level. This enhances employees’ sense of purpose and value in the company. 

Positive feedback can help employees better recognise their skills and hone in on their talents, thus improving self-esteem and contributing to better mental health.

Ask Employees What They Need

Sometimes, when solving a problem, you need to go straight to the source. Instead of creating a healthy workplace culture based entirely on foreign surveys or trends, ask your employees what they would appreciate most regarding mental health support and what would encourage them to look after their wellbeing. 

Corporate systems often misunderstand what employees need in terms of support and flexibility. But asking them directly in workshops, surveys, or team meetings is a great way to learn more about employee needs and deliver them effectively. 

Understanding The Causes And Effects Of Burnout In The Workplace

Overworking has been glorified to a toxic degree in most corporate settings. Hustle culture and the fixation on hyperproductivity can be harmful to people’s mental and physical health, and it’s time for companies to step in and make some changes. 

Fortunately, there are ways to change this. 

How To Limit The Chances Of Burnout

One of the best and most effective ways to mitigate burnout and promote better ways of approaching work is to openly recognise and talk about it. Raising awareness around the dangers of burnout is important in building a positive and supportive mental health culture in the workplace. 

Educating employees, managers, and everyone in between on the symptoms of burnout is a great way to prevent it from taking root in people’s lives. Let’s go through some common signs of burnout or poor employee mental health: 

Comparison With Other Employees 

One of the most problematic aspects of contemporary hustle culture is its encouragement of competition. Contending for the position of most productive, biggest achiever or best performer can distract people from their everyday tasks and contribute to negative self-esteem. 

If you find your employees becoming overly competitive with one another, it might be worth revisiting your employee recognition and reward system. Perhaps some adjustment is needed to the way people’s efforts are framed. 

High performance is always worth rewarding, but there are other admirable traits to have in an office team. Loyalty, consistency, good humor, communication, and collaboration skills should all be recognised in the workplace.
Setting Unrealistic Expectations

Are the expectations you set for employees realistically achievable? Pushing employees to go harder and do more might seem like a productivity-enhancing effort, but more often than not, it normalises overworking.

Taking a look at the way your business frames tasks and project goals can help create a more manageable system of productivity within the workplace and ensure that people feel energised and equipped to fulfill their job roles. 

Take Responsibility As A Business To Take Care Of Employee Mental Health

While first aid training is crucial for every business, looking after an employee’s health goes far beyond a cut finger or injured limb. In the workplace, many of the biggest health dangers are not physical, and they often go unseen. It’s up to businesses to change that.

Creating a supportive workplace culture that seeks to actively prioritise employee mental health is the sign of a healthy, sustainable business. But it takes real effort and structural input to create a balanced, vital team of employees.

Businesses can’t expect employees to maintain or fix their mental wellbeing on their own. There need to be real systems in place to recognise, accept, and support them in the process of becoming healthy individuals.  

Unhappy, stressed out employees are a symptom of an unhealthy business. It’s extremely important to recognise the exponential value of investing in employee mental health. When employee mental health is recognised, the workplace environment automatically becomes happier, more energised, and more productive.