There is a strong emphasis on ways to assist workplaces dealing with mental health difficulties, and the pandemic puts pressure on them to do more. Previously, the emphasis has been on proving that supporting our employees’ mental health is a workplace issue rather than placing it in the realm of the individual’s personal duty.
Today, we want to know what organizations are doing to support workers’ mental health, why they are doing it, and how they have dealt with mental health concerns in the workplace.
Some organizations go to great lengths to assist their employees’ mental health, while others do very little. Some businesses are strong in terms of mental health, while others have a long way to go. Many people face obstacles along the route and attain various results.
For this post, we will look at some data from last year that looks at how companies deal with mental health, the kinds of initiatives they use, and the challenges they face when establishing support programs.
Three activities that promote good mental health
Organizations can take a proactive approach to promoting healthy workers’ mental health. When coping with mental health concerns, you can engage in three activities. Consider the following activities:
Preventing injury at work, for example, through job design.
Promote positive workplace features, such as positive psychology interventions and human resource management practices and policies.
Are especially designed to address mental health issues when they arise at work, such as mental health first aid training, employee coping strategy training, and employee help programs.
What motivates organizations to engage in these activities?
When dealing with mental health difficulties, organizations use the three activities for both proactive and reactive purposes.
These are some examples:
The occurrence of a past workplace incident, such as a stress claim, indicates that employment or workplace features are contributing to mental health difficulties.
The existence of a strong business justification for addressing mental health, such as the occurrence of a workplace incident necessitating new procedures or rising costs,
Enhanced awareness as a result of the engagement of internal or external consultants
What factors aid in the implementation of these initiatives?
Several variables promote the implementation and ongoing use of initiatives to assist employees struggling with mental health difficulties. The most crucial elements are:
An organizational leader’s personal commitment to enhancing the organization’s approach to mental health. This can be a result of direct or indirect personal involvement with mental health issues.
Creating a compelling business case for implementing mental health initiatives
An organizational culture that supports or complements mental health activities
Activities produce leaders who know their people and can spot any emerging mental health issues.
There is sufficient funding to support efforts addressing employee mental health.
What are the impediments to the implementation of these initiatives?
Several constraints impede the implementation of efforts to assist employees and businesses dealing with mental health difficulties.
These are some examples:
Stigma around mental health.
Managers’ reluctance to address employee mental health concerns.
Individual or groups of employees’ disengagement from the organization and/or mental health activities.
Understand how to get mental health help outside of an EAP.
A lack of internal capability and mental health knowledge.
Different cultural attitudes about discussing mental health exist within various workforces.
The most frequently stated barrier to getting mental health care is stigma. It causes people to avoid seeking help and has a detrimental impact on treatment outcomes. Stigma can manifest itself in three ways:
Public Stigma: When a person is aware of the stereotypes associated with those who seek mental health treatment.
Self-stigma is when a person applies public stigma stereotypes to themselves. Label avoidance is when a person refuses to accept their symptoms or participate in mental health treatment because they are afraid of the negative repercussions of receiving a formal diagnostic label.
The following are the most common stigma-related hurdles to obtaining help:
Confidentiality: the concern that someone will discover that the individual is receiving therapy.
Negative career impact: the anxiety that receiving treatment and key individuals learning about it at work will jeopardize their chances of advancement.
Coworker judgment: no longer being treated equally by colleagues.
Three areas for improvement
Some businesses have made significant progress in creating a mentally healthy workplace and are skilled at dealing with mental health difficulties.
Others have a lot of work to do. However, there are three areas in which we can all make improvements:
We will continue to decrease the stigma associated with mental health.
Concentrate on ongoing progress in the management of employee mental health issues.
Raising employee mental health awareness in the workplace.