4 ways to best support employees

Boosting employee morale will boost your bottom line, too.

In this day and age, it's crucial that employers recognize that mental health is just as important as physical health when it comes to productivity, effectiveness and the overall happiness of their employees. Understanding how a business can best support its employees is a growing concern – and should be at the forefront of any organization. Take a look at some startling stats from this national survey by Business in the Community on mental health in the workplace:

• 77% of employees exhibit symptoms of poor mental health
• 29% of employees have been diagnosed with a mental health condition
• 62% of employees claimed that the reason for their poor mental health was work
• 35% of employees were experiencing poor mental health but did not approach anyone for support

How can you best support your employees?

A mentally healthy workplace culture strives to get the best out of their employees AND puts them first. Every workplace is different, but healthy workplaces generally have these four things in common:

1. Keep a positive culture: Employees tend to feel excited about coming to work when there’s a positive culture. Encouragement and support are things that are given often in a healthy work environment. This also includes recognizing success and rewarding the hard work of your employees. Happy employees have been shown to be up to 20 percent more effective in the workplace than unhappy employees.
2. Be flexible: Whether this is done by offering flex hours or the ability to work remotely, it gives employees options. Flexible working hours allow employees to choose what works best for them and gives them a sense of control over their productivity. Two-thirds of managers’ report that employees who work from home increase their overall productivity. Better yet, work from home statistics show that 82 percent of telecommuters reported lower stress levels.
3. Build trust and transparency: Trust is considered one of the most important attributes in the workplace. Without trust, an employee may feel unable to come to managers or supervisors when they are in need. This falls in line with transparency. If you feel that your employer isn’t transparent with you, is there really any trust?
4. Focus on team bonding: By stepping away from work together, you are able to relieve the pressure of deadlines and to-do lists and focus on understanding one another. You’re increasing engagement between employees and supervisors which can help break the barriers of typical workplace relationships. A great example of team bonding is to take a cooking class together. This type of activity encourages creativity, promotes health and wellness and fosters self-awareness and self-esteem. According to the NY Times both employees and managers are spending more and more time working in collaborative teams than working individually, showing the value of creating strong, and positive team interactions.

If you want to support your employee’s mental health, you need to ensure they’re happy, open to collaboration, able to express their creativity and have control over their work. By fostering a positive work culture that encourages all four of these, your employees can become more invested in what your business goals are - the more invested they are, the more productive they will become. Consider what you and your employees can do to instill more happiness into the everyday work grind. You'll see an impact on your life, work and bottom line.

What are your thoughts on mental health in the workplace? Let us know in the comments below.