UKIM Lead Psychologist Dr Kayode Akinsulire looks at ways to support staff mental health
Protecting employees’ mental wellbeing at work is crucial for a multitude of reasons; it reduces sickness and absences, enhances retention and recruitment, and it also increases staff productivity. Adopting wellbeing strategies in the workplace is beneficial for both the employees and the overall business. Make a start this spring and introduce wellbeing strategies so that staff can feel their best and perform their best.
The winter months can be rather gloomy, and it can be the case that many people experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which affects people’s mood and mental health. Now that the sun is starting to shine that bit more, and flowers are starting to peek through, it’s the perfect time to boost staff morale and introduce some wellbeing strategies as part of occupational health.
Here are my wellbeing tips for your workplace:
- Reach out to colleagues - As always, talking is incredibly important as not only does it help people to deal with things, it also helps break the stigma and make other colleagues feel like they can open up too. Whether you’re just sharing a problem to find a solution or if you have something that you are struggling with personally, it’ll help. A problem shared, is a problem halved.
- Regular peer or clinical supervision as standard - Having regular supervision can help manage stress, worry, and offer reassurance that individuals are doing well; those combined can improve wellbeing levels across the workplace.
- Ensure people are not taking on too much work - Workloads can be very intense at times, and burnout is something that anyone can experience; this is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion that can actually take a toll on people physically too. It’s crucial that all workloads are managed and as above, having supervision and reaching out to colleagues can help keep workloads managed.
- Set effective boundaries - This helps a person feel comfortable at work, whilst still maintaining professionalism. This can be setting priorities, managing workload and limits, as well as clear communication. Knowing what’s expected, what’s needed, and how comfortable someone feels doing a task are all things to consider.
- Try to spend some time socially with colleagues - All work and no play can be very detrimental for mental health and wellbeing; team bonding, socialising and having some fun is the perfect way to relax and take a break. It makes people more productive in the long run as it reduces burnout and stress, it helps the team’s bond, and it keeps staff happy.
- Managers promoting a culture of staff wellbeing - It’s important for managers to lead by example and make colleagues feel like they can open up and talk about their wellbeing or concerns. The attitudes and stigma surrounding mental health and wellbeing is detrimental, so a healthier positive working culture is imperative.
- Celebrate successes - If any employee has done a good job or completed something, then celebrate it! It’s always nice to have some praise and positivity.
How UKIM Occupational Health & Wellbeing can help:
We offer bespoke wellbeing strategies that suit your business as we believe that there’s not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to wellbeing, especially for employees in various career choices. Designed by our in-house experts, there’s a variety of schemes to really increase and monitor staff wellbeing, including health assessments, onsite health coaches, workshops, and digital employee benefit programmes.
