An organisation should not only exuberate suitable results, but also an adaptive work culture to enhance mental being of employees, feels Shivani Misri Sadhoo
RAISE AWARENESS
In India, in most workplaces, the subject of mental health is like an elephant in the room. Employees are mostly unaware of stress-related mental and physical issues and when they find themselves suffering from anxiety, anger, and depression, they get scared to talk to their management about their problem and ask for solutions so that make help them to cope with the problem better – give them flexible office hours for a certain period of time, give them holiday leave, shift from stressful projects etc. Hence organisations can raise the awareness of mental wellbeing through the following steps: –
Embed mental health in induction and training – Ensure staff is given adequate information on how mental health is managed and what support is available as a part of induction.
Raise the profile – Invite a speaker on mental health to an event as a part of activities for diversity, disability or mental health awareness.
Make most of the internal communications channels – Raise awareness through blogs, myth-busters, fact sheets, tips for managers, useful web links and FAQs. You could also use posters, noticeboards, staff newsletters, magazines, and intranet and internet pages.
Encourage mental health champions – People at all levels talk openly about mental health sends a clear message that you would get support if you’re experiencing a mental health issue and must not be seen as a barrier to career development.
GET PERIODIC EMPLOYEE FEEDBACKS:
Getting staff survey – where you could do a psychological evaluation or an assessment.
Conducting monthly or quarterly performance review meetings.
When an employee is suffering psychological and emotional problem support the person through:
• Check if it’s possible to provide flexibility around hours of work. _
• Review the employee’s job function and help the employee remove any non-essentials in his/her job.
• Provide more time to the employee to attend to work requiring attention to detail. _
• Offices should permit short breaks when concentration declines.
