How to support good mental health in the workplace.

“One in five Australian workers is currently experiencing a mental health condition. ” – headsup

Encouraging and encouraging positive mental health within the workplace can happen with just a few small changes.

Offer days off
Want to look after the wellbeing of your staff? Give Them Some Time Off. It’s the best benefit you can give, especially after the last 18 months. Encouraging employees to take some time off will help keep a healthy work/life balance and avoid work-related stress and burnout. Taking time off from work will enable you to be more productive and focused, spend more time with loved ones, and increase happiness. Here at OITC, we offer Cloud Days ( paid leave separate from Annual Leave)

Share your experiences
If you are feeling resistance from employees to have conversations about their wellbeing, a great way to connect is to share your own experiences and anecdotes about mental health. When you share, it helps to change negative attitudes and stereotypes and encourages others to speak openly about their experience with a mental health condition.

Encourage volunteering
Volunteering helps you develop stronger social networks and friendships. And is a great way to help staff become more active, mentally and physically. Not only is it rewarding to help others out of kindness, but many people also find that volunteering helps them experience less stress and anxiety. Nothing relieves stress better than a meaningful connection to another person.

Lock in Sessions
While most of the world has adopted a new way of working, one of the greatest struggles those of us working from home are finding is the balance of being productive and switching off when needed. One way to help your staff step back from their laptops is to provide weekly or monthly group sessions. Lock in a weekly virtual session of any kind, mediation, mindfulness, yoga or boxing with an instructor and encourage staff to participate – make sure your whole leadership team is involved as people tend to follow by the examples of those in charge.

Group Learning
With mental health no longer being a scary term, businesses are now looking for ways to encourage staff to be open and candid about their struggles. One excellent way to do this is to lock in a Learning Sessions based on different elements of mental wellbeing – not only will everyone discover new information – a group environment will create a stronger connection, a sense of belonging and safety for all those involved.