21st-century businesses have focused exclusively on revenue, productivity, skill exploitation, and bottom-line results, overlooking how the company culture and environment impact their staff’s wellbeing and health. Nevertheless, the trend has lately shifted from focusing on efficiency to more attention to the aspects that can slowly but surely negatively impact a mistreated employee’s health. The awareness culture is increasing, and businesses can no longer sweep their carelessness and unfair practices under the rug. These days, an employee can learn how to sue a company and claim compensation from a business whose upper management breached their duty of care and led to their emotional and physical harm and damage. There are lawyers with years of experience and know-how who are able to make justice for the wronged employee, showcasing how employees’ health and wellbeing have become a focal matter for forward-looking businesses.

Now, you probably want the best for your employees. A growing body of studies stresses the connection between high efficiency and returns on investment and employee wellbeing. Mentally-healthy workers are more engaged, interested, determined, productive, and resilient. The real bottom line now becomes their mental comfort, which turns into a paramount element of a prolific workforce. In light of the shifting focus from productivity to employee wellbeing, we’re disclosing some of the most effective changes you can conduct in the workplace to ensure your employees are contented and thriving. 

Spot red flags 

It’s important to understand how mental health impacts workers before thinking of any strategy to reduce such effects. Unless one knows how to spot signs of emotional suffering, it can be easy to confound mental stress with anxiety and even depression. The bottom line is that some poker-faced employees tend to conceal their emotions at work, while others’ behaviour speaks volumes about their interior state of mind. Knowing that a supervisor can tap one’s shoulder and comfort them that it’s OK if they can’t give their best until their disheartening situation passes is one of the most comforting things an employee can benefit from to overcome difficult periods quicker.

Some things you can do to grasp and evaluate your workforce’s mental health include but aren’t limited to:

• Provide mental health training for the organisation’s leaders so that they can take on duties associated with employees’ psychological and physical state
• Ensure managers’ behaviour is helpful if they identify signs of emotional sorrow, concentration difficulties, and even substance abuse
• Use certified tools to approximate the commonness and related expenses of substance abuse, alcohol abuse, and untreated depression 
• Consider carrying out surveys through methods like questionnaires to assess your employees’ stress and how their mental health impacts their productivity to know where you are standing.

Address leaders’ and managers’ roles 

The extent to which a manager’s or leader’s reaction and behaviour toward troubled employees can often be underestimated. A recent study discloses that employee wellbeing is declining for several reasons, including poor management impact and significant discrepancies between leadership and employees’ perception of prosperity. 

The truth is that leaders and managers have a paramount role in developing the company’s culture. Their attitudes and behaviours impact how mental health and wellbeing are perceived among employees. For example, it’s often when leaders recognise and take care of their workforce’s mental health that workers feel the need to do the same. 

Understandably, rulers can establish a positive example by prioritising their crew’s mental wellbeing, helping them understand that work-life balance is achievable. 

Use more educational resources 

Numerous educational resources and programs can help employers improve the workforce’s mental health, so let’s discover some of the best tried-and-tested ones:

• Employees should have access to resources addressing mental health, the point where these types of content should strengthen their confidence in the company’s power to provide health. 
• There are EAP programs that provide expert and confidential help for those challenged by mental health issues, offering employees the safe space they need to obtain help and guidance.
• Helplines and counseling services are becoming game-changers for those with urgent mental health crises and needs. They provide instant support and can make a difference for those needing timely help during difficult periods. 
• Tailored support for specific employees or teams can streamline the process and offer immediate help, improving effectiveness and results. 
• Lastly, constant communication about existing helping resources can make a difference, as we’ll see from the example of the world’s top professional services company, Marsh McLennan. Send out systematic reminders via different communication channels to ensure employees are aware of the support they can access.

Marsh McLennan case study 

Advising partners in 130 countries, Marsh McLennan has access to in-depth analysis on what impacts and improves employee wellbeing and can customise solutions depending on specific mental health needs. This perk helped the heavyweight create an international employee listening campaign with programs that aim to dissect what employees think but don’t say. The quintessence of these programs is to build human-oriented technologies that can be used to empathetically tune into the various work needs of employees. 

A listening tour can help you get under employees’ skins to learn their aspirations and expectations at the workplace and discover where your company falls short and where room for improvement exists. Research emphasises the importance of finding common ground on mental health issues between employers and employees, so your interaction can be a great starting point if you want to better address your staff’s needs. 

Last words

Companies who deploy programs to actively address employees’ mental health challenges and needs can see improvements in returns on investments, 95% of leaders who monitor these indices suggest. Employees are no longer compromising their wellbeing, all the more since there’s a direct connection between their state of mind and physical health and their incomes. 

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that a few activities to reduce stress and health insurance are enough. Nowadays, the workforce has a deeper and more nuanced perspective on wellness. The more your business does to meet employee wellbeing needs, the better your chances of success can be.