The Role of an Employer: How Businesses Can Support the Mental Health of Their Teams

As an employer, it’s a critical part of your role to create a mentally healthy workplace for your employees. 

Whether you’re an up-and-coming entrepreneur who has recently attained a qualification such as a masters of business administration online or you’re perhaps a more seasoned professional who has built up a thriving career as your own boss, keeping your employees happy, healthy and mentally well is a central component to your business’s ongoing success. 

Here’s what business owners and employers can do to support the mental health of their teams. 

Recognising the Importance of Mental Health in the Workplace

When it comes to mental health, it can have a powerful impact on how employees show up, participate, and perform at work. Suppose an employee suffers from poor mental health. In that case, this may not only affect their productivity but can also impair their ability to attend work regularly, causing more frequent – and costly – absenteeism. Indeed, employee absenteeism and reduced productivity caused by untreated mental health conditions have been seen to cost business owners up to 10.9 billion each year. 

With so many employees spending so much of their lives at work, it is in a business’s best interest to ensure that it’s a mentally healthy place for their staff to be. How do we ensure this, then? For one, national standards in terms of maintaining a safe, stable and supportive working environment must be adhered to. This includes setting guidelines in place around employee interaction, as well as a company-wide, zero-tolerance attitude towards workplace harassment. In addition to this, a sense of community amongst colleagues should be actively cultivated. The benefits of community and belonging for our mental health are vast, and encouraging this at work can help employees feel connected, appreciated and valued.

Fostering a Supportive and Supported Work Community 

The key to creating a sense of community in the workplace is cultivating connection. Business owners can contribute to fostering a sense of connection among employees by taking several initiatives, such as arranging regular team bonding and social events for staff. These types of activities can help break down the barriers to communication between teammates. 

In addition, values of diversity and inclusion can be promoted by celebrating varied cultural occasions throughout the year. This is essential to supporting employees from a range of backgrounds in feeling included, welcome, and celebrated.

Cultivating a Company-wide Sense of Work / Life Balance

Many of us spend over a third of our lives at work. So, in addition to ensuring that employees feel that they are doing meaningful work by making an impact and adding value to the business, work hours also need to be balanced with adequate downtime. To support this, employers should encourage employees to take their annual and personal leave. We are not robots and cannot be expected to work endless hours all the time.

On the subject of endless hours, a recent initiative known as the ‘right to disconnect’ has been embraced by many workplaces. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, where many of us were required to work from home, the lines between work and home life became blurred for many employees. Now that we have returned to comparative normality, there is a push to regain control of our free time and to fully ‘log off’ once the working day is done. The ‘right to disconnect’ means that employees are not obligated to fulfil unreasonable overtime requests or to work past their designated sign-off time. This is great news – both for our stress management and also to support our mental well-being.

Mental health is a critical factor in employee performance, participation, and attendance at work. As such, employers need to ensure that their business is a workplace their teams want to work in.

So, how do we create and cultivate mentally healthy working environments? First, employers need to recognise the importance of mental health in the workplace. Next, they must adhere to national standards around safe workplaces by ensuring company guidelines are in place to ensure employees feel supported. Finally, businesses should embrace and encourage a sense of community, belonging, and work/life balance among employees.