Mental Health in the Workplace
With one in five Canadians living with mental illness, it's no surprise that workplaces play an essential role in an employee's overall mental health. Whether a staff member is excelling at new opportunities assigned to them or overwhelmed by their workload, these experiences can make a positive or negative impact on their mental health. Below we outline how you as an employer can help improve mental health for your employees.
Why does mental health matter?
Research shows that when an employee feels healthy and safe at work, they're happy. In turn, productivity is increased. This also suggests the success of your business is reliant on the health of your employees. It means, by keeping a psychologically healthy workplace, you can improve employee:
- Engagement
- Morale
- Satisfaction
- Retention
- Recruitment
- Productivity
Not to mention, you can also reduce:
- Absenteeism
- Grievances
- Health costs
- Medical leave/disability
- Workplace injuries
5 Best Practices to Improving Mental Health in Your Workplace
When it comes to a psychologically healthy and safe workplace, as the employer, you have the ability to create a supportive environment. You can promote mental well-being. Use these five HR best practices to better workplace mental health for your business:
- Encourage engagement. Ask employees to participate in work-related events and allow them to make decisions in addition to providing feedback.
- Provide clarity. Define not only an employee's duties and responsibilities, but also your expectations of them such as, respectful behaviours in the workplace.
- Promote growth. Offer training and learning opportunities to help develop your employees' skills.
- Celebrate achievements. Be sure to effectively recognize an employee's contributions to your company's success.
- Show support. Promote a work-life balance, and ensure that everyone can manage their workloads. Provide possible conflict resolution solutions when necessary.
Questions?
Call our complimentary employer advice line - 1(833) 247-3651. Our expert HR advisors are available to answer your questions 24/7. Don't wait. We're here to make it easy, contact us anytime.
