With all the pressures of a modern and fast-paced society in life and work, mental health issues among employees can sometimes be the result. In fact, employee mental health issues are on the increase, so there needs to be a focus to curb this rising trend.
Not only does every employee deserve to be physically, mentally and emotionally healthy, but when an employee’s mental health is good, they are far more productive workers who form a positive part of the team environment. Mental health for employees matters and ensuring it is also part of business compliance. With this in mind, here are some handy tips to help employees maintain their mental health.
#1 - Allow Flexible Working
Providing flexible working conditions can be an effective way of ensuring good mental health for all employees. There are numerous ways to provide flexible working conditions. One way is to break up the work day or the work week by allowing an employee to complete some tasks remotely at home. Another good ploy is to allow flexible working hours, where an employee still puts in a full day of work, but chooses their own hours. The possibility of allowing flexible working hours can really depend on the structure and nature of your business though.
#2 - Offer Employee Benefits and Perks
Feeling appreciated through benefits, bonuses and perks can do a lot for an employee’s state of mind. Rather than feeling like their good work goes unnoticed, which can result in disinterest in the job and even depression, the opposite is true when employees are rewarded with various perks and benefits. There are a number of ways this can be achieved, through allowing pets in the workplace, gifts, awards, bonuses, an employee games room and more. The list goes on and is limited only by the imagination.
#3 - Provide Education on Coping With Stress
Life comes with stress. There’s no avoiding it and many work environments can become very stressful. A little bit of well-managed stress can be positive, but too much stress is going to have a negative impact mentally.
One way stress in the workplace can be overcome and managed better is by providing education and even training on coping with stress. These days, there are loads of educational and training materials out there on the subject, many of them free of charge.
The more employees can better manage stress, the more productive they’ll be and happier with their work and personal lives.
#4 - Ease Employee Workload
Too much work with tight deadlines can lead to stress, depression and an inability to cope. No employee should be worked to the point of physical or mental exhaustion. Ultimately, there is nothing positive to be gained by this.
Instead, if someone is under pressure from a heavy workload, their workload needs to be lightened in some way, at least for a time. This is essential for the individual’s mental health, as well as being a positive move for the organisation as a whole.
#5 - Provide On-Site or Remote Counselling
It doesn’t matter whether your workers are on-site or working remotely, if anyone is exhibiting signs of developing mental health issues (particularly if they are related to the job), then on-site or remote counselling should seriously be considered. Sometimes, all it takes is the analysis and support of an expert to help get someone’s mind back on track.
Conclusion
Although mental health issues are currently on the increase in work environments around Australia, it doesn’t have to be the case in your business. Make it a focus to put measures in place to ensure the physical and mental health of everyone in your employ.
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