The average British worker will put in 34 hours and 26 minutes of work a week, totalling 1,791 hours a year, and 84,171 hours in the course of their career. The Health and Safety Executive found in 2022/2023 stress, anxiety and depression account for 19.6 days off work for the average employee. How do you make sure that the time spent at work does not adversely affect your mental health? Work is often essential to our positive self-image and confidence, as work contributes to how useful we feel. If things are not going well at work you can feel a knock in confidence that effects you outside of work. A healthy work environment not only fosters professional growth but also supports mental well-being.
Why Mental Health Matters at Work
Impact on Productivity: Mental health directly influences productivity and engagement. Creating a supportive workplace can enhance overall job satisfaction and performance.
Breaking Stigmas: Acknowledging mental health challenges helps break down stigmas, creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable discussing and addressing their well-being.
Women in the Workplace: Women often face additional pressures, juggling professional responsibilities with personal and caregiving duties. Prioritising mental health is crucial for their overall success and happiness.
Reducing employee turnover: Work environments which prioritise and protect mental health see a reduction in employee turnover. High employee turnover can be costly and time-heavy to deal with for a business.
Tips for Managing Workplace Stress
Open Communication: Encourage open and honest conversations about mental health. Let your colleagues know that it's okay to talk about their struggles with you. Reach out for help as soon as there is an issue as this will limit the amount of time you might need off from work and speed recovery.
Flexible Work Arrangements: Flexible work arrangements allow women and those with caregiving responsibilities to balance professional and personal commitments effectively. All employees have the legal right to request flexible working. Employees can request a change to: • the number of hours they work • when they start or finish work • the days they work • where they work
Promote a Positive Work Culture: Foster a workplace culture that promotes support, collaboration, and understanding. Simple acts of kindness and encouragement go a long way. Having a culture which sees mistakes as a learning opportunity can not only protect mental health but prevent potentially costly mistakes from not being identified quickly enough.
Creating a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Setting Boundaries: Set clear boundaries between work and personal life. Avoiding burnout is essential for sustained success. Aim for productivity rather than presenteeism. Set a time when you will stop responding to work calls, texts, or emails in the evening and communicate this to colleagues. Resist the urge to check on work emails before your work day begins or when you are on holiday. Being always in work mode means your brain does not get enough downtime to re-charge and will reduce your productivity over time.
Well-being Initiatives: Support initiatives that promote physical and mental well-being, such as wellness programs, menopause awareness, fitness activities, and mindfulness sessions. Take part in initiatives available to you within your workplace and develop strategies that work with your needs. Like going for a walk in your lunchbreak or setting up a lunch walking group with colleagues.
Equal Opportunities: Advocate for equal opportunities for women in the workplace, ensuring that career advancement does not come at the expense of well-being. 1 in 6 women consider leaving their jobs due to menopause symptoms. 1 in 10 women actually leave their job, which is a huge loss of resource which could have been avoided if more support was provided. Reach out for support from occupational health to see what changes can be made within work to make work more manageable for the specific challenges you are facing.
Seeking Help When Needed
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs): Highlight the availability of EAPs and other mental health resources provided by the workplace, like occupational health. Ensure everyone knows how to access these services and use these services if you feel you need support. Your employer is paying for a service so you should be making the most of the services they provide. EAPs usual offer a range of services like 24/7 counselling support helpline, financial advice, legal advice, and/or a set number of counselling sessions each year for each employee and sometimes their spouse has entitlement too. Some EAPs even offer couples counselling. It is always worth contacting the service directly to find out what services and entitlements available to you.
Employee Medical Insurance: Some employers offer this as an additional subsidised employee benefit. This type of insurance often includes an array of additional mental health support like longer-term treatment for trauma or diagnosis of neurological diversities like ADHD at sometimes a third of the cost of private and without long waits often found on the NHS.
Reducing Stigma: Encourage an environment where seeking professional help for mental health is normalised and destigmatised. Mental health should be treated the same as a physical health issue and everyone should be encouraged to get support when they need it. Any one can suffer at some point with a mental health issue. Talking about your issues and how you managed them helps others reach out for the support they need.
Supportive Leadership: Leadership plays a crucial role in fostering a mentally healthy workplace. Encourage leaders to lead by example and prioritise their mental well-being. Leadership can help create a culture of productivity rather than a culture of always working.
For more information about how you can protect your mental health at work or get some support contact me at info@forcounselling.co.uk.
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