Did you know that depression and anxiety left untreated costs Australian employers $10.9 billion per year? Poor mental health affects a staggering one in five Australian employees, and they bring these physical and mental aspects of themselves to work every day. As social awareness helps the stigma behind mental illness fade away, it’s becoming more acceptable to speak about such issues and now the responsibility is on employers to provide a mentally healthy workplace.
The good news is that as an employer, there are many things that you can do to create a mentally healthy workplace.
1) INCREASE AWARENESS OF MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS – Know your facts on this topic and provide resources and training to your staff and managers
2) REDUCE THE STIGMA – Arrange for someone to share their mental health experiences and speak about their path to recovery. Asking your team to share such stories may be sensitive, but Beyondblue actually provide ambassadors to do the talking
3) SUPPORTING EMPLOYEES WITH MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS – Have a plan! Develop and implement return to work or stay at work plans.
4) INCREASE AWARENESS OF YOUR TEAM’S ROLES AND RESPONSIILITIES – These would cover areas such as work health and safety, discrimination, privacy and taking care of their own health
5) SHOW THAT YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR EMPLOYEES – This one is vital. Let them know what you’re doing, share your action plan and seek their input on what would create a mentally healthy workplace for them
6) CREATE A DISCRIMINATION-FREE WORKPLACE – Diversity in gender, culture, sexuality and disability must be respected to minimise mental health risks
7) MONITOR WORK LOAD AND HOURS – If employees are regularly working long hours, taking work home or working through breaks, address the issue directly with them to alleviate the pressure
8) PROVIDE CLARITY ON JOB ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES – Ensure that employees have access to an up-to-date job description so they have clarification on what is expected of them
9) LET’S TALK ABOUT IT! – Build the skills and confidence of employees to approach someone they may be concerned about, or enable a distressed employee to approach you about the problems they are experiencing.
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