creating a Workplace Culture that Values Mental Health

Organizations are places where people can live out their passion and their craft. Your job, as an employer, is to create a container where they thrive. You probably knew this.

What might challenge your ways of thinking, though, is this addition: Your job is also to set them up to make a difference when they leave the container in which you employ them, too.

When you adopt the social responsibility of creating employees that go home happy and create impact in their communities, better outcomes are created at every level: individual, team, organizational, community, systemic.

We spend the majority of our days, weeks, and life at work, making it one of the biggest contributing factors to our mental health — and not just during one month of the year.

So, what can you do to have a positive impact on your employees’ mental health, and send home happier humans at the end of each workday (all year round)?

Listen

Instead of throwing dollars at something you think will be appealing, and will encourage your employees to work hard and be loyal to your organization — ask. Ask them what makes them feel motivated, fulfilled, acknowledged, celebrated, and supported at work.

Psychological Safety

A psychological safe environment is one in which  employees feel they can speak up, express their concerns, and be heard. Rather than operating out of fear or to avoid being embarrassed or punished, employees can direct their attention and energy on their contributions.

Fulfillment

Many employees want to contribute and want to be fulfilled by their work. If someone doesn’t love their job, all the perks in the world won’t make a difference on their performance or tenure. Whether it’s offering opportunities to learn new skills or take on a ‘side hustle’ at work, or adjusting your communication standards to include more people in more parts of the process, create opportunities for buy-in.

Leadership

I think we can all agree that one of the biggest causes of stress and/or mental health challenges at work is managers. Having a manager without the leadership skills to support direct reports will impede your company-wide culture initiatives. This is part of the reason why we ensure depth of enrollment in our culture blueprinting process — everyone on your org chart should be a part of creating your culture, and your managers and leaders play an especially important role. Focus on developing your managers for effective culture deployment.

Company culture and mental health are intertwined — and at the center? Your people. Taking a human-first approach at work is what will make a difference on your employees’ mental health.

Need help navigating the intersection of employee personal interest, and organizational health, to create better outcomes at every level? Let us know.