Productivity, performance and organisational resilience are underpinned by a healthy and mentally well workplace.
An organisation that develops a workforce that is healthy and mentally well will enjoy higher levels of engagement and discretionary effort, improved retention, increased creativity and innovation and a greater tolerance for managed risk and change. Employees with good levels of personal wellbeing have energy, are able to focus, and build collaborative workplace relationships.
Conversely, organisations that do not have a healthy and mentally well workforce will experience greater levels of burnout and fatigue, lower engagement, absenteeism, presenteeism and turnover. These workplaces don’t like to embrace change and avoid trying anything new. These conditions are productivity killers.
The best and most productive workplaces are places of ‘support’ and ‘success’, not places of ‘stress’. Taking time to make a plan that focuses on workforce mental health and wellbeing is a worthwhile investment in productivity and business risk mitigation.
Here are 3 tips to get you started:
- Show your managers how to build their skills and improve their confidence so they can lead a mentally well workplace
Train your managers so they have the skills and confidence to become wellbeing leaders. This way they can build a connected, engaged and productive culture. Give them simple strategies so they can lead with compassion, create a sense of belonging and provide practical support. Tell them about psychological safety and how they can create it to harness greater creativity, innovation and acceptance of change. Teach them about workplace rights, responsibilities and compliance so they can manage business risk at the coalface.
2. Show your employees how to proactively take responsibility for their own mental health and how to support each other
Show your employees how to build their resilience and how to look after themselves if times get tough. Show them how to look out for one another and create connected workplace relationships. When employees have personal insight and skills they can perform more effectively and respond to challenges in both their work life and personal life.
3.Check that your organisation has the elements of a mentally well workplace
There are many elements that make up a mentally healthy workplace, here are a few: Good job design; reasonable job demand; appropriate job control; prevention of bullying and timely response to issues; healthy management of conflict; the right training and resources for employees; well designed and communicated policies that detail support options and flexibility; good communication from leaders; inclusivity practices; visible and easily accessible support; and, open conversations about workplace mental health.
Ask yourself these questions:
- How does your workplace measure up compared to the elements that make up a mentally healthy workplace?
- How well are your managers addressing productivity and business risk? Are they equipped to provide support to employees or is this an added stress for them?
- How energetic and engaged are your employees? Can they find creative solutions, and do they embrace change?
Need to know more? Want to know the business case? Need more information on risk mitigation? If you would like to know more about how you can take action to improve productivity and manage business risk you can get in touch with Luemo Workplace Wellbeing. Margaret Aboody, Director Luemo Workplace Wellbeing. You can contact Margaret directly on 0402029104 or margaret@luemo.com.au www.luemo.com.au.