Managing Mental Health In The Workplace

Workplace culture plays a huge part on one’s mental health. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 report, only 20% of UK employees feel engaged at work. But why does this matter?

Employee engagement is a key indicator of company culture. Engaged employees are more productive, more loyal, and may be less likely to leave their current position. So, by improving company culture, you are positively contributing to organisational success. If the culture of your organisation is negative and often neglected, this can impact an individual’s mental health or even worsen existing conditions. If you run an organisation or sit within the leadership team, how can you facilitate good company culture to build a mentally healthy workplace?

What is workplace culture? 

Workplace culture is defined as an environment that an organisation creates for its people. This includes things like values, behaviours, attitudes, formal and informal aspects of the workplace. A good workplace culture can facilitate productivity, positive sentiment, morale and staff retention. Conversely, a poor workplace culture can lead to employee disengagement, poor productivity and increased absence rates.

What are the common mistakes when it comes to workplace culture?

When businesses do not take their workplace culture into account or fail to conduct an audit to discover where the problems lie, then you may begin to see declines in mental health and wellbeing across the board. Here are just some of the common mistakes when it comes to establishing a mentally healthy workplace culture.

Achievements aren’t acknowledged

When someone achieves something, it’s normal to give praise or even a reward for their hard work. When a system like this doesn’t exist in any capacity, it can make your workforce feel undervalued, which can lead to poor productivity and disengagement.

Not encouraging open communication

If your leaders prefer to communicate top-down, this could inadvertently have a negative effect on your people. This is because it can discourage your people from communicating their thoughts, and ideas are likely to be lost in translation.

No work-life balance

If your people feel the need to be ‘always on’, this can lead to increased stress, anxiety and eventually burnout. None of these are healthy outcomes for your people, which is why things like deadlines, out-of-hours working and workloads must be assessed.

No shared vision

People are often driven by purpose. When this doesn’t align with a company’s vision and values, it can easily lead to disengagement.

Ignoring employee wellbeing

Outright ignoring individuals who may be struggling – even if they haven’t come forward – can lead to them feeling isolated and unsupported in their working environment.

Lack of growth opportunities

Some individuals may wish to get a promotion or develop their skills. If there are no pathways to progressing in their role, this may heavily influence motivation levels and staff retention.

Lack of clarity and expectations

If job roles and projects are unclear, how do you expect your people to succeed? Without the right foundation, your people may feel anxious about what to do next, which in turn can lead to increased stress levels and eventually burnout.

How can poor workplace culture impact mental health? 

A poor workplace culture can impact mental health by causing individuals to feel heightened feelings of stress, anxiety and worsening of any existing mental health conditions. These feelings can eventually lead to burnout, which in turn may result in increased sickness rates in the workplace. Poor workplace culture isn’t necessarily caused by imbalanced workloads, but also things like harassment and bullying in the workplace.

Plus, if the issues aren’t addressed, your workplace culture may be associated with high staff turnover due to the pressure on your workforce.

A poor workplace culture can also lead to:

• Poor task and people management

• An association of being a toxic workplace

• Damaged reputation in the job market and beyond

• Financial loss.

Importance of healthy work culture in an organisation

In recent years, many businesses have welcomed different working modes. How a company chooses to work lays the foundation of their work culture. Healthy work culture – no matter your working mode – is incredibly important for staff retention, overall wellbeing, job satisfaction and the organisation’s bottom line. Having a healthy work culture in an organisation also helps attract new talent and enhances their reputation too.

The benefits for employees

Increased wellbeing

A positive culture can reduce stress and improve mental health, leading to happier and more satisfied employees.

Increased work engagement

Employees are more likely to be engaged and motivated when they feel valued and supported in their work environment. This means ensuring your people feel valued and that the work they’re doing matters.

Improved collaboration and teamwork

A healthy workplace culture fosters open communication and encourages employees to work together effectively. After all, if everyone’s in a good mood, they’ll be more willing to work with others.

Reduced sickness

When a workplace culture makes their people feel valued and respected, they are less likely to be absent (absenteeism) or leave the organisation.

It encourages opportunities for growth

A positive culture often includes opportunities for employees to learn, grow, and advance their careers. They may take the initiative to seek out new opportunities, get involved in more projects and be more willing to contribute new ideas.

What does a healthy workplace culture look like?

Prioritising work culture for good mental health in the workplace can be achieved in many ways. Factors such as your industry and the individual personalities you have within your organisation will largely affect how certain ideas to improve culture are implemented. Ultimately, the goal is to encourage psychological (as well as physical) safety. Here are just some examples of what a healthy workplace culture looks like to get you started.

Autonomy and trust

Allowing and trusting people to effectively carry out the job role they were hired to do will empower people to take initiative as experts in what they do. When people feel like they have the freedom to manage their workload and make decisions, they’ll become more confident in their own abilities and be more assured in their decision-making process.

Transparency

Workplace culture that manages mental health and wellbeing also involves transparency and open communication. Are goals clearly defined? Are concerns raised with the individual rather than going through various channels? Everyone in the workplace must feel comfortable to speak their minds, as after all, an organisation can’t be the best without honest feedback.

DEI

YouGov revealed that two thirds of British workers say workplace EDI is important when job hunting. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (also known as EDI or DEI) means having a culture that welcomes all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and any other attributes. Sustainability and eco-friendly office initiatives for wellbeing is also important, as attitudes towards sustainability efforts are important. In fact, a study showed that 24% feel their mental and physical health is impaired by a workplace that is not environmentally friendly!

Recognition

Recognition and praise are a huge part of building positive culture for mental health. This is because praise and recognition reinforce the work your people do, acknowledges their effort and ensures they know their work matters. According to People Management, most workers want recognition from senior leaders but less than half get it. If recognition was built into a company culture, mental health can improve and reflect in job satisfaction and overall wellbeing.

How to create a healthy workplace culture for better mental health

Now that we understand the role of culture in managing mental health and the many benefits your organisation can reap – how do we action building a healthy workplace culture?

1. Ask your people what they want

Assuming your people are fine and ‘getting on with it’ is a dangerous mentality for workplace culture. Instead, getting regular employee feedback makes your people feel heard, and allows you to get real insight into sentiment and morale. You may want to ask questions such as:

How often do you want to catch up as individuals or a team?

What type of team-building activities would you be interested in?

What could be improved in our working environment?

What professional development opportunities do you want to see more of?

2. Recognise achievements

If your people have hit a milestone or are clearly working hard to make a particular project a success – show your gratitude! This can help individuals feel seen and recognised. This can be taken a step further if someone has mentioned they’re trying to achieve something outside of work (such as a marathon or other area of interest). Show interest in their activities to show you genuinely care about your people.

3. Have team building activities

Whether it’s taking regular breaks from screens to grab a drink together, going out for lunch or having a corporate wellness class once a week, having time to build relationships with your people can help inspire better connections. It’s also important for remote and hybrid workers who may not have regular contact with their colleagues. By organising team building that works for various modes of working, you can encourage connection and dispel employee isolation.

4. Make work a comfortable place to be

Having a culture of accommodation for your people can work wonders for mental health. Not only does it facilitate special requirements, but it can establish your organisation as a place that truly cares for and manages their people’s wellbeing. Whether that’s asking what requirements are needed at job application stage, to having regular check-ins with home-workers who may not realise they’re working unsafely – be an organisation that prioritises wellbeing.

5. Promote diversity and inclusion

Ensuring your recruitment process accounts for people of all backgrounds, and that racial equity is considered at work ensures your people know they’ll have the support they need. This can range from making race a regular topic of discussion, appointing a race champion and ensuring strong anti-harassment procedures are in place. These ideas not only support psychological safety, but it also grants your organisation access to a larger talent pool!

How an Employee Assistance Programme can help with mental health and workplace culture

Part of working on your company culture to manage mental health at work may involve implementing various initiatives for your people. With an EAP, you can give your people access to confidential counselling, financial and legal advisory services that they can access 24/7, 365 days a year. Plus, with HA | Wisdom Wellbeing, we believe that it’s important to have day one intervention for any individuals who may take time off work due to anxiety and stress to ensure they have the accommodations they need to return to work – particularly if they want to speak to an impartial party.

Conclusion

The role of culture in managing mental health is clearly crucial for physical and mental wellbeing, staff retention, hiring, engagement and many other aspects. With a lot of scrutiny on workplace culture these days, it’s important to be an organisation that takes it seriously. By putting in the work and making your workplace culture a pleasant experience for your people, you can ensure they’re engaged, happier and see your organisation as a good place to work.