Mental health has never been a more crucial aspect of the workplace, especially since the pandemic. As such, the workplace plays a vital role in fostering and building such an environment. Just this year, Singapore was ranked the top four most overworked cities in the world, just after Dubai, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur.

What is mental health in the workplace? Why should we care about it? 

Our work affects our mental health, and vice versa; our mental health affects our work. The long hours we spend at work combined with our working environment can impact our ability to contribute productively as well as cope with stress.

There are many trigger factors that we face at work, from the overall workload to working culture and systems. Any combination of such triggering factors can easily negatively affect our mental health over time. The recent pandemic did not help much either, serving as an additional trigger factor that brought many uncertainties and extreme changes to our ability to main healthy work-life balance.

An unhappy colleague or employee is less capable of separating personal issues from work, which ultimate affects their ability to work well. This also affects one’s mental well-being which hinders work engagement, reduces effective communication between colleagues, and lowers productivity. What this means is that a lack of adequate mental health support eventually leads to a less productive and less enjoyable workforce.

Research has shown that companies that place importance on their employees’ mental health stand to gain immensely. In this day and age, where mental health has increased value, people are willing to work for a company that prioritises their employees’ wellbeing, leading to higher productivity which in turn means better revenue generation. As employers, it also means you are less likely to see significant talents leaving their roles which also means lesser recruitment-related expenses.

In other words, a win-win situation for everybody.

How can companies develop a healthy working environment? 

Developing a mentally-healthy working environment is a lot more straightforward than you think. Over the past couple of years, with the increasing attention on helping to foster a mentally healthy society, Singapore has seen the rise of Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) that provide employees counselling services and assistance for any work-related and personal problems that they face. Besides such programmes, we have also gathered a list of things you can do to enable a mentally-healthy working environment in your workplace.

1. Open up about mental health

Being aware and accepting that mental health is a prevalent issue is vital in dissolving the stigma regarding the topic. By being open and starting conversations surrounding mental health, we are able to create a trusting, safe working environment where individuals are not afraid to talk about some of the struggles they face in their personal life and work.

Companies can take small steps in building such an environment by scheduling regular check-ins with staff to help assess their mental state and optimise their workload. You can also implement systems and policies, such as a buddy system, to foster adequate social support.

Such small steps may seem awkward at first, but they certainly will help individuals to feel less alone.

2. Equip your staff with the knowledge to keep themselves and others mentally healthy 

You cannot take of others if you do not know how to take care of yourself.

Your staff are the company’s foundation, and it is crucial that they have the knowledge and skills to be in tune with their mental health. Before expecting them to watch out for others, you first have to equip them with the necessary knowledge to know how to take care of their own mental health.

You can do so by raising awareness through mental health-related workshops and talks. For example, a 2-day corporate workshop about self-care at work will teach your employees how to manage stress better and various methods to help cope with it if work begins to feel overwhelming.

The end goal is for your employees, especially individuals with people under their leadership, to be able to apply such knowledge and be able to spot signs of mental distress in others. With such information, they are able to hold space and tailor the workload to each individual’s mental capacity.

3. Commit to adequate mental health support in the workplace on a systemic level

In order to create a working environment where there is adequate support for good mental health, your company must first value it as a primary factor. What this means is that everything surrounding your business revolves around ensuring that the daily working environment is as mentally healthy as possible.

There is no better way to achieve so than by getting feedback from your staff themselves. Gathering information about your employees’ mental health and general wellbeing and changing work policies and systems accordingly is a way to build a mentally healthy working environment.

These policy and system changes can vary, from maintaining a healthy work-life balance through flexible work arrangements to ensuring that performance management systems do not discriminate against those managing mental health conditions. The last point is particularly vital; 7 in 10 individuals managing mental health conditions agree that negative attitudes from colleagues are employment’s major barriers.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, a healthy working environment is one that is people-first rather than performance-first. When you ensure that your employees’ wellbeing is adequately taken care of and that their mental wellbeing is covered, you will also be able to reap the benefits that come with it.

Annabelle Psychology can help you with that. We provide corporate programmes, from training workshops and events to EAP. We understand the need for a mentally healthy working environment and want to equip your company with the fundamentals to achieve it. You may visit us at https://www.annabellepsychology.com/ to find out more today!