Managing and Supporting Mental Health
According to Time to Change, mental health problems affect one in four of us. However, many people feel ashamed to talk about this with a friend or partner, let alone their employer. Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to be more open about their mental health. Choose talk, change lives.
Discussing your mental health with your employer can feel awkward, but it doesn't have to be. At Bravo Benefits, we believe in workplaces where everyone can thrive. It is the role of business owners and employers to create happily thriving workplace communities.
Why don't people talk about mental health?
Mental health awareness is increasing, but many people with mental health problems face discrimination both in and outside of work. For this reason, employees are often scared to let their employer know about their mental health as they are afraid of being treated differently.
So, how can we manage and support mental health at work?
For many of us, work is a major part of our lives.
The Mental Health Foundation has found that the value-added to the economy by people who are at work and have or have had mental health problems is as high as $225 billion per year. This figure represents 12.1% of the UK's total GDP.
It is therefore imperative that we protect this value by managing and supporting mental health at work.
Our Employee Benefits Specialist, Mark Miller states:
"One of the key things for employers to consider when reviewing their approach to mental health is not to build their proposition around just looking to support employees when they start showing signs of suffering from mental health issues but instead to encourage maintaining good mental health, just like you would encourage maintaining good physical health through exercise, regular dental appointments etc.
So, look at ways of maintaining good mental health and not just dealing with helping employees back to good mental health when they are suffering."
Often, businesses focus on those who are already suffering from their mental health. Although important and a subject that must be addressed in all workplaces, it is also essential that employers support their entire workforce in maintaining their existing and good mental health.
How can this be achieved?
Build a workplace wellbeing strategy
We are complex creatures.
Our mental wellbeing is not based on any one factor. Things such as debt, high workload, illness, loneliness and poor sleep can all impact our mental health. To be at our best and thrive in the workplace, we have to be:
- Physically well
- Mentally well
- Feel socially accepted
- Financially secure
As such, when building a programme designed to help your team thrive at work, you need to address all factors that affect our wellbeing.
This can be difficult to do, even if you have an existing strategy in place. You need a comprehensive strategy that still allows a degree of flexibility so that all needs are catered for. How can you know what areas you’re “hitting” and whether it’s supporting all employees, regardless of their circumstances?
We’re here to help you.
We’ve developed a tool to help you audit your existing strategy and discover new solutions that will help you meet the needs of your diverse workforce. Not only that, but you will learn why wellbeing is so important in the battle to meet your business goals, as well as a step-by-step guide that will help you fill in any gaps in your provision.
Talk to us
If you would like to find out more about our solutions, get in touch.
Mental health services
The provision of employee benefits that make a positive difference to employee wellbeing and happiness such as employee assistance programmes can provide the right initial support through confidential counseling services and access to information when employees need it most.
Mark Berry, Employee Benefits Consultant says:
"Where an Employee Assistance Programme is offered with access to a suite of self-help and knowledge building modules on a wide array of subjects, employees can explore topics that they may not feel comfortable discussing with a stranger but may just need some hints and tips to adjust their behaviours.
One example is an employee I spoke to who occasionally suffered from mild anxiety in office situations and had struggled in silence as they did not feel comfortable to talk about it openly. By working through a small anxiety programme in their EAP phone app, they picked up some coping mechanisms which has helped reduce the effects of their anxiety. Sometimes employees just need a small helping hand to make a big change to their everyday life."
Financial wellbeing support
Other benefits such as financial wellbeing strategies also work to support employee mental health by reducing stresses from outside the workplace such as debt worries.
Support physical health
Regular exercise is proven to boost self-esteem and is key to maintaining mental health. By providing employee benefits that encourage and support physical health like Gym Discounts, you encourage employees to look after all aspects of their health.
Keep in touch
Creating a workspace where people can be themselves, it makes it significantly easier for people to speak about mental health concerns.
Alongside this, being transparent about the mental health services available to your workforce and providing wider health benefits can work to increase confidence in discussing all things health-related. Prove to your workforce that you are supportive. If you yourself suffer from mental health problems, be open about how you feel at work. It might encourage your employees to do the same.
Supporting and managing mental health at work goes hand in hand with the productivity of your workforce. Addressing wellbeing at work increases productivity by as much as 12% (Time to Talk, 2020).
David Pinner, Head of Consulting at Bravo Benefits states:
"We can support employers with a number of tools to help nudge employees into making smart choices that are not just healthy for the body, but healthy for the mind."
See how Bravo Benefits can help you manage and support mental health in the workplace by calling 0333 333 9100 or email information@bravobenefits.co.uk
If you are worried that someone within your workplace may be experiencing feelings of isolation or depression, you should speak to them directly. Encourage the person to contact the Samaritans through their free 24-hour helpline on 116 123.
