The workplace can significantly contribute to positive employee mental health, or contribute to mental health struggles. How can employers and leaders improve the psychological health and safety of their workplace?
These key practices are essential to creating a safe and healthy work environment.
Make psychological health and safety a priority
Psychologically safe workplaces accomplish three main goals:
- First, they support their staff in creating a psychologically safe work culture.
- Second, they demonstrate a willingness to acknowledge and address psychological risks in the workplace.
- Third, provide tools to address those risks.
A safe workplace is committed to principles of psychological safety such as support, empowerment, collaboration, awareness, and diversity.
Support work-life balance
Leaders can support workplace mental health by role-modelling work-life balance and self-care practices.
Prioritizing wellness initiatives and normalizing the use of paid time off for wellness activities can foster a workplace culture which not only values self-care, but also rewards it.
This includes encouraging individuals to take adequate breaks and to take vacation time and resisting the tendency to view skipping breaks and working long hours as a badge of honour. Remember that work-life balance can actually improve productivity!
Support growth and development
Providing education on mental health concerns, mental illness, and psychological health and safety is an important ongoing step in supporting workplace mental health and wellbeing.
Incorporating mental health training in the workplace reduces stigma, increases awareness, and equips everyone with better tools and strategies for supporting their own mental health and the mental health of their colleagues.
Prioritize employee connection and recognition
Leaders can create psychologically safe workplaces by intentionally noticing and expressing appreciation for the contributions of their team through their words and actions.
Create a workplace culture where individuals feel valued and connected; create opportunities to:
- Show and foster trust and respect in your employees
- Celebrate wins
- Promote activities which foster team building, social connection, self-care, peer support and mentoring
By creating space for dialogue and encouraging honesty, compassion, a willingness to listen and collaborate at at all levels in the workplace, leaders can create a psychologically safe organizational culture.
This culture welcomes new ideas; encourages mutual feedback and raising concerns; provides opportunities for employee leadership, influence, choice, and participation; and values active listening.
Promoting employee engagement also requires thoughtfulness around how mistakes and setbacks are handled Creating a workplace culture which values setbacks as opportunities for learning and growth ensures that everyone feels safe to step out of their comfort zones to experience growth.
Get support as an organization
Our skilled mental health professionals can help you create a psychologically safe workplace and help you improve wellbeing of your employees.
Clarity Counselling Services offers Employee Assistance Programs, including individual, couples, and family therapy; workshops and trainings; group programs to address burnout, conflict, and more; monthly digital mental health newsletters; and a growing digital resource library.
We can also assist in assessing or screening for challenges, and help you monitor your progress in promoting workplace mental health and psychological health and safety.
Additionally, Clarity Counselling Services offers mental health workshops, groups and Critical Incident debriefings, for organizations, non-profits and businesses independent of EAPs.
Contact us today at [email protected].