Over the last few decades – and particularly within the last few years – businesses the world over are realising that good mental health among their employees is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a critical driver of performance. From a better bottom line and lower staff turnover to improved morale, there are numerous benefits to prioritising mental well-being within your workforce.
For South African businesses, especially, the challenge is no longer about whether to support their employees’ mental health, but how to do so on a practical level. Ahead of World Mental Health Day on 10 October, what steps can you as a business take to ensure that mental health is supported in your business? Here are five practical places to start.
- Build a psychologically safe work environment
An individual’s attitude to mental health – and their willingness to seek help for mental health issues they’re dealing with – can often be highly influenced by the work culture and team they’re in. Creating a psychologically safe work environment means creating a place where employees can share concerns with their colleagues or managers, ask for help or admit mistakes without fear. A culture of openness about mental health struggles, for example, can make all the difference between an employee speaking up or suffering in silence.
So what does this look like in a practical context? It could mean training managers to recognise early signs of distress among their team, and encouraging them to hold regular check-ins with them. Providing anonymous feedback channels can also help to foster a culture where issues are shared without worrying about negative consequences. If done successfully, employers can create a workplace where employees feel supported and seen rather than judged or isolated.
- Embrace flexible ways of working
In these post-Covid years, employers have generally become far more flexible about accommodating different styles of working to suit an employee’s individual circumstances. This could mean a remote or hybrid work setup, staggered start times, a compressed work week, or even a job-share arrangement between two employees to help them balance their home and professional lives.
Several studies have shown a correlation between burnout and rigid working conditions – whether that means long hours without flexibility, tight deadlines with no leeway, or a lack of control over how an employee manages their workload in a given week. Conversely, autonomy over working hours has been shown to correlate with lower anxiety and higher job satisfaction. For a business, this results in advantages such as lower absenteeism, stronger retention rates and higher productivity.
The challenge with a flexible working arrangement is to strike a balance between it and accountability. Some of the ways to achieve this include setting clear expectations and trusting that the best possible employee has been hired for the role, knowing they can be trusted to deliver. Overall, when done correctly, flexible working is a net benefit for both an individual’s mental health and an organisation’s performance.
- Make it easy for your employees to get help
The World Health Organization estimates that around one in three South Africans will experience a mental health issue in their lifetime. The reality, though, is that support is often difficult to find, especially in a work environment. As a result, employees may delay seeking the support they need until their challenges escalate and become more difficult to manage.
One way to facilitate this help is through your corporate medical aid scheme. Several schemes in South Africa now include mental health support as part of their benefit structures. Fedhealth, for example, supports members with mental health conditions through a mental health benefit that includes access to various resources depending on the plan they’re on.
- Invest in education and awareness
Knowledge reduces stigma when it comes to mental health issues – plus it empowers employees to seek help when they need it. Businesses can facilitate this knowledge by providing ongoing mental health education, whether that takes the form of seminars with health professionals, stress management workshops or even exercise programmes.
With a clear proven link between physical and mental health, encouraging your employees to adopt healthy habits such as healthy eating and keeping fit, will have clear benefits for their mental state. And when employees feel healthier, they’ll have more energy to support themselves, their families and their colleagues.
- Measure, review and improve
Truly successful mental health initiatives within an organisation aren’t static or once-off: they’re ongoing, where outcomes are tracked so that employers can learn from feedback and adjust the programme accordingly. This could take the form of active feedback, such as anonymous surveys, exit interviews and engagement metrics, all of which can reveal whether initiatives are effective.
Other indicators can include absenteeism rates, the take-up of mental health benefits
among employees and staff turnover rates. By tracking these metrics, businesses can ensure that their investment in mental health is having a positive and lasting impact.
For businesses serious about achieving success, prioritising employee mental health is a crucial strategy. A joint 2016 study from the World Bank and WHO estimates that for every dollar invested in mental health treatment, companies see a fourfold return in improved productivity and reduced absenteeism.
Ahead of World Mental Health Day, South African employers have an opportunity to lead by example and make mental health as important as their employees’ physical health. While stress will never completely disappear from working life, businesses can equip their employees with the resources, boundaries and support they need to manage their work so that they’re happier and healthier overall.