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As business owners and managers, there are three key reasons to prioritise mental wellness with your people.
This isn’t just a trippy hippy feel-good concept that you only need to worry about when everything else in your business is sorted (will it ever be?), and equally, instructing everyone to take a cup of concrete and harden up has a proven track record of failure. Here’s why:
First, the carrots. There’s the ethics of it. Building a strong and supportive work culture is the right thing to do morally. It makes us better people. Research also shows that mentally healthy workplaces perform significantly better than those that are not, outperforming on the productivity and effectiveness metrics.
Next, the stick. Every employer has a legal obligation under occupational health and safety legislation to protect their team members from harm, and this includes mental as well as physical safety. Very stiff penalties — including criminal records and jail time — exist in some states.
But as scary as that may sound to many of us, the idea of having these conversations with someone we employ is even more terrifying. Surely everyone’s emotions are their own business?
Yes and no.
Most people don’t feel comfortable disclosing their mental health at work. Pre-COVID-19 data from insurance company Allianz showed that 78 per cent of employees worried it could result in them losing their job. Another 78 per cent said they felt there would be negative repercussions, while 69 per cent were concerned they would be treated unfairly. Ouch! This is why most of us — 89 per cent — feel more comfortable faking a physical illness (a migraine, sore throat or stomach bug) if we need time to deal with something personal or address a mental health issue.
As an employer, it’s not your job to fix your people. None of us can do that for another person. And we can’t even force people to fix themselves. But it is important to leave our judgement at the door.
Our top responsibilities as employers are to: not make our people worse due to their working environment; create a workplace that is free from discrimination; and treat with privacy and respect any information shared by an employee. We achieve these goals by creating workplaces with strong trust.
Mentally healthy workplaces protect their team members by having work practices that prevent harm, they manage and support the recovery of team members when they have moments of doing it tough, and they promote good mental wellness by creating thriving cultures that flow.
This all sounds great, but how do we do that? Well, the number one skill in all of this is the ability to genuinely listen to your people. And when we say listen, we mean genuinely listen and hold space for your team member to talk. Don’t jump in, don’t try to solve their problems, don’t give them advice. Just hear them.
Create time in your week and month to connect informally and encourage your team managers to do the same. A casual coffee, a shared lunch, a mentoring session, even just a walk around the car park. Ask about partners, kids, pets, life goals, and how they’re tracking.
If a team member comes to you and asks for a conversation, don’t try and squeeze them in between a sales call and a difficult vendor meeting. Turn off the phone, and create space.
If you’ve noticed their behaviour seems a little off-kilter, share your observations with them and ask if they are okay. Once they have shared that confidence with you, ask them what they need to become okay, or what you can do to support them. But let them answer.
Our goal as employers should be to ensure we lead teams that are not just coping but thriving. Creating strong cultures that support trust, are non-judgemental and which care for each other are not just nicer to work in, but they perform better, are more profitable, and can create deeper and lasting relationships.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kylie Davis
Kylie Davis is the principal at Real Content and author of seven landmark reports.
She is a 'data queen’ whose research helps agents, property managers and principals better understand customers, markets and themselves.
She is also a keen observer of the tech trends changing the way we work.
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