Have you focused on maintaining a strong culture within your company in which employees feel empowered to grow and flourish? With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, consider checking in on your employees and evaluating how you can better support their mental health and well-being. As the importance of work-life balance continues to be paramount, employers that focus on mental health are most successful at creating work environments that foster productivity and morale. Here are three ways you can incorporate mental health initiatives within your workforce:
Offer an employee assistance program.
Incorporating employee assistance programming as part of your organization’s benefits package is instrumental to promoting health and wellness. There are many types of employee assistance programs (EAPs) offering a wide range of services and resources. According to the American Psychiatric Association, EAPs help individuals with emotional and substance abuse issues, interpersonal relationships, legal problems, and financial hardships. Many of these programs also include training and consultation for managers regarding organizational concerns that may affect the mental health of employees on the job. EAPs can play a major role in helping employees navigate personal issues without compromising their job performance or ability to fulfill their work responsibilities. What’s most notable is that these programs can be provided with no cost to the employee, as well as delivered in a variety of forms (by person, telephone, or video). As your organization considers offering an EAP, there are many program options to consider in terms of scope of service offerings, delivery models, and pricing.
Provide flexibility when possible.
Flexibility has arguably become integral to employee work-life balance, especially as workforce practices have shifted dramatically over the past couple years. Employers that offer flexibility give employees the power to better manage their jobs with personal obligations. Depending on your organization’s structure, there are many initiatives that promote flexibility, such as flextime policies (letting employees structure their own hours); job sharing (two part-time employees handling one full-time position); telecommuting or remote work; and permanent part-time arrangements. Building a culture in which employees can design their own schedules or work in a capacity that’s better suited for them personally has a direct effect on mental health in the workplace. However, to effectively implement flexible policies, it’s essential to communicate protocol changes to staff, so there’s no confusion among your team. For example, if a new policy involves allowing employees to work remotely three days per week, you must clarify the process for how employees will continue to effectively perform their jobs (i.e., such as communicating through a collaborative project management platform). Setting expectations will ensure employees know how flexible policies will impact them and their specific roles within the organization.
Invest in organizational development.
Evaluating the way in which your organization functions at its core is directly related to the type of environment provided to employees. Investing in organizational development allows your leaders to shape the type of culture that fosters positivity, teamwork, and morale among your entire staff. While there can be many goals for organizational development, often a primary objective is to build strong cultural values within the workplace. Effective organizational development is executed in a variety of ways, including individual or group interventions, team building, performance management, and talent development changes. One of the most critical components of organizational development, as it pertains to employee wellness, is stress management and employee assistance programming. By gathering feedback about employees’ concerns and pain points, you can implement initiatives that allow them to achieve a better work-life balance while enjoying greater job satisfaction. You can make more informed decisions for future employees as they become acclimated with their roles and progress further within your organization. Through employee-centric organizational development, you can give your employees a launchpad to create careers in which they feel fulfilled without becoming burned out or overly stressed. Over time, this will result in better staff retention and recruitment outcomes, as you’ll build a reputation as an employer that cares about its people.
Prioritizing employees’ mental health is critical for building a team of thriving, successful individuals who feel empowered to perform their best each and every day. Additionally, investing in initiatives that improve your employees’ mental health will ultimately translate to a happier, more productive team at large. With the initiatives above, you can have a transformative impact on your employees’ mental health, giving them the tools and resources to excel personally and achieve their greatest potential both at the office and at home.
Are you currently expanding your team and looking for new talent? By working with HH Staffing, you’ll gain access to the most qualified candidates on the market. Contact HH Staffing, a Florida-based staffing firm, and learn how to get started!
Until Next Time,
Your Staffing Partner, Darrin Rohr- President, CEO, and Chief Servant
Current owner of HH Staffing and Former Chief HR Officer for several successful Multinational Fortune 500 Companies. Brings a fresh perspective from decades of experiences creating Great Workplace Cultures by building high-performance teams while leading and managing people from all different backgrounds. HH Staffing is headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, and is uniquely positioned to serve both local and national clients.