As more employees share their experiences with mental health and its effects at work, the … [+]
Nothing brought employee mental health to the attention of business leaders more than the COVID-19 pandemic. The writer Naz Beheshti referred to this heightened awareness of mental well-being as a “silver lining“of the pandemic.
Beheshti writes: “There is early evidence that this decrease in stigma has made people, in general, more comfortable talking about mental health. According to a 2021 survey by NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness), the 52% of respondents say they have been more open with others about their mental health since the pandemic began.”
As more employees share their experiences with mental health and its effects on their jobs, the demands for action by leaders have increased simultaneously. Leaders can’t sit back and just listen to their employees’ stories. Action required. For leaders, this means focusing on personal mental health and building a psychologically safe and inclusive workplace for employees.
start with yourself
A picture of a stressed businesswoman working from home on a laptop looking worried, tired and overwhelmed.
“Burnout” has been a popular buzzword as thousands of employees left their jobs in search of a better work-life balance during the recent “Great Resignation.” However, it is important to remember that leaders are equally at risk of being overworked.
According to Development Dimensions International’s 2021 Global Leadership Forecast, 60% of leaders feel burned out at the end of their workday. Additionally, 26% of those same leaders revealed that they anticipated leaving their company within the year. Leaders who don’t care about their own mental well-being risk damaging the mental health of their team as a whole.
“If executives want their employees to put their mental health first, they need to do the same in a very visible way,” says Adam Weber, senior vice president of Community at 15Five. “It’s one thing to encourage people to take time off for therapy or a mental health day, but most leaders have yet to take the next step to transparently do it themselves.”
Modeling self-care is a great solution for leaders looking to improve their mental well-being. Certified Executive Coach erin urban He suggests that leaders take walks during their lunch breaks or take time to fully celebrate accomplishments at work. She also recommends taking some time to breathe and practice mindfulness.
Pharmacist Sanjib Nandi discovered the power of mindfulness and meditation during a critical period in his life. Now as an author and speaker, Nandi’s mission is to free people from negativity and promote self-mastery.
Following the release of her book “The Man with Zero Talent” in 2021, Nandi created LUVO, a completely free self-care and mindfulness coaching app. The app includes other wellness features such as water intake, sleep tracking, step counting, mood checks, and gratitude.
“Everyone wants health, happiness and success, but fear is what holds us back. I spent hours researching the brain and discovered that fear literally makes the amygdala bigger, while constant attention can shrink it in weeks.”
Promote diversity and inclusion
Leaders can build a psychologically safe company culture by prioritizing diversity and inclusion … [+]
Although more employees talk about their mental health, not all of them have a positive experience. This is largely due to the absence of psychological safety in the workplace.
According to the Creative Leadership Center“Psychological safety is the belief that you will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.”
The Mckinsey researchers wrote: “Our research finds that a positive team climate, in which team members value each other’s contributions, care about each other’s well-being, and have input into how the team carries out its work, is the most important driver of a team’s psychological safety.Furthermore, by setting the tone for team climate through their own actions, team leaders have the greatest influence on a team’s psychological safety. , only 43% of all respondents report a positive climate within their team.”
Creating this environment requires leaders to learn to listen and respond with compassion. mike koganassistant counselor at Care Counseling Center, said, “People need to feel like they belong, that they matter, and that their organization values them. Otherwise, work can be an incredibly isolating experience, and that feeling of isolation can make symptoms of depression worse.” mental health”. Leaders must consistently demonstrate empathy and understanding so that employees feel like they can raise concerns about workplace stressors.”
Foster diversity and inclusion
Fostering a culture of D&I will not only benefit the mental health of employees and will positively impact … [+]
Leaders can build a psychologically safe company culture by prioritizing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) initiatives. For example, in a 2021 study by Kelly Greenwood and Julia AnasMore than half of respondents (an increase of 13% from 2019) indicated that mental health is an IED issue.
The importance of inclusion became dramatically apparent after the death of George Floyd in 2020. The Washington Post states: “The rate of black Americans showing clinically significant signs of anxiety or depressive disorders increased from 36% to 41% in the week after the video of Floyd’s death was made public. That represents approximately 1.4 million more people.”
However, African Americans are not the only population that needs greater inclusion. One Mind at work co-founder Garen Staglin wrote, “Employees from diverse backgrounds may face underrepresentation, microaggressions, unconscious bias, and other stressors that affect their mental health and psychological safety at work.”
Kelly Greenwood and Juila Anas wrote: “Demographics continue to play a significant role in workplace mental health, and younger workers and historically underrepresented groups continue to struggle the most. Millennials and Gen Z as well Like LGBTQ+, Black and Latino respondents, were significantly more likely to experience mental health symptoms Like Millennials and Gen Zers, caregivers surveyed and members of historically underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ+, Black and Latino respondents, had more likely to leave roles because of their mental health and believe that a company culture should support mental health.”
Fostering a culture of D&I will not only benefit the mental health of employees, it will also have a positive impact on business and hiring.
Respondents from all demographic groups in a mckinsey study indicated that they consider an organization’s level of inclusion when making career decisions.
The indication seems to be that many employees in the United States are actively seeking bold actions from companies to help invest in their mental well-being and make everyone feel included.