In the past month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has released new guidelines for employers around preventing work-related mental health conditions and promoting mental health health at work. The UK government has also announced a £122 million investment into mental health services, adding employment support, which aims to help people with mental health conditions find and keep suitable work.
Workforce wellbeing and managing change
Workplace mental health is rightfully getting the recognition and investment that is critical for our new world – where frequent and relentless change has become inevitable, and workforces are increasingly struggling with their mental health. For HR, this time is pivotal. Teams will be working hard to understand how their workforce is impacted, provide the right support, and ensure their organisation is in a strong position to achieve future success.
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With managers and leaders at the forefront of workplace culture and positioned to support the many, a large responsibility for HR teams will be to equip leaders with the right skills and resources to be able to support a wounded workforce. This can be done by:
Understanding the needs of your workforce
Before focusing on what leaders need to better support and galvanise their teams, they must first understand the needs of the workforce.
Many employers recognise when their workforce is not coping well, perhaps through absence data or from staff feedback. But without digging deeper and thinking more holistically, it can be difficult to know what is really going on for people – whether at work or at home – and how to truly support them.
“By collecting data on the mental health of your workforce, and regularly conducting feedback sessions and anonymous surveys, as HR, you can be much more informed about the underlying concerns. This data can help develop precise and targeted strategies, identifying where leaders may need to be upskilled, and what information leaders need to know to be able to fully support their teams. Data can also help identify how effective initiatives are, monitoring uptake, engagement, outcomes, and any presenting issues, all of which provide vital information for HR teams.” Angela Kravets, chief people officer, Kooth
Promoting self-awareness
To become a more conscious and compassionate leader, it’s not enough to take part in training to recognise mental health symptoms. These kinds of traits start with emotional intelligence, and the first step towards this is self-awareness.
Learning experiences that are emotive, requiring leaders to be vulnerable and introspect on their beliefs, values, and experiences are much more impactful. They look under the surface, encourage reflection, and spark an internal desire to grow. This intrinsic motivation is what kickstarts a truly caring and compassionate leader.
Training a handful of specific skills
<span”>Findings from a recent McKinsey study show that leadership development programmes focusing on developing a handful of specific skills can improve the likelihood of positive behaviours that are linked to psychologically safe leaders.
In particular, specifics such as open-dialogue skills, cultural awareness, mindful listening, situational humility, and sponsorship – enabling others’ success over one’s own – were associated with supportive and consultative leadership types. Both have been linked to psychological safety and employee wellbeing.
Aligning organisational values and purpose
According to a survey of more than half a million employees in the U.S., one-third of all staff don’t understand why changes are happening in the workplace.
Now more than ever, employees will be looking for clarity on the “why” in change. After years of uncertainty, trauma, and instability, many are feeling change fatigue, according to Gartner, who found that employees can now only handle half the amount of change they once could in 2019.
It’s crucial that organisations assess the value of change and communicate to leaders throughout the company. Leaders also need the right policies and tools in place to be able to advocate for change – it’s difficult to champion change that isn’t prepared for, or to emphasise a wellbeing support offering when the tools aren’t available.
Linking in with leaders
Leaders are the main communication channel from executive boards and HR teams to the workforce, and it’s critical to regularly check in with managers.
As well as being able to gain vital insight into how teams are coping, linking in with leaders allows for more trust and cohesion throughout the organisation.
According to the Pelz Effect, the perceived influence a leader has can directly influence how their subordinates view them. Leaders who are seen as having a lot of input and a high amount of influence over decisions in an organisation are likely to be viewed more positively by employees in their team.
Offering the right wellbeing tools
Finally, it’s critical that the workplace is equipped for wellbeing, enabling leaders to easily champion employee mental health.
This goes beyond supplying an Employee Assistance Programme or Mental Health First Aid training. It requires organisations to integrate wellbeing into every level of the workforce, building a mental wellbeing ecosystem where there are tools and processes to support every employee at every stage.
Workplace mental health must become more proactive and holistic, where organisations are continually monitoring underlying issues, and providing training and development for leaders, with self-help, out of hours, and face to face options, digital mental health platforms, and policies that are centred around employee needs.
HR teams that take this approach to support are much more likely to catch and support ill mental health sooner, or better – prevent it from happening in the first place.
Download the new Kooth Work free guide ‘Next level leadership for managing change’, where you’ll find expert insights around the urgent need to nurture and equip leaders to support a wounded workforce.
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