Progression opportunities, competitive pay and working conditions are all important factors when mulling over job offers. But more recently, there’s become an expectance that businesses should also put time, money and effort into their staff’s mental wellbeing.
If you’re a business owner who’s not considering your team’s mental health, you’re probably a bit behind the times. It’s also likely that your competitors will be doing this which could see you lose important staff members to more caring companies.
If you run a business and want to start going the extra mile for your employees, here are a few ways you can show a little more care for your workers’ mental health.
Decreased Workload
One of the biggest causes of workplace stress is an unmanageable workload. It’s important to have regular check-ins with your staff to discuss workloads and avoid expecting too much from your employees.
If you do see deadlines being missed or staff staying to work late, this may be a sign that there is too much work on the table and strategies need to be considered to manage this. Sometimes the solution lies in simply adding to your team so there are more team members to spread the workload across.
However, this may also be a sign of poor culture which is something that new hires won’t fix. If your staff are being overworked due to cultural problems, it may be time to revisit the drawing board to fix any cultural issues.
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Flexible Working Conditions
The pandemic forced many workforces to work from home, and after seeing the benefits, a lot of workforces chose to keep this post-pandemic. This is largely due to the impact is has on employees’ morale and mental health which both benefit from the flexibility that comes with working from home.
Remote/hybrid roles allow workers to more easily balance work with life commitments such as parenting. It also means workers can spend less time travelling to and from work and more time in the comfort of their own homes.
While some staff members may prefer to work from an office, being more flexible in terms of where and when your workers can complete their weekly hours can have massive benefits in terms of mental health.
Increased Number Of Holidays
One of the quickest fixes when it comes to caring for your workforce’s mental health is to give them more time off to spend on holidays, family time or simply relaxing. Nowadays, it’s becoming common for employees to offer above the minimum number of holidays that they are legally required to offer.
This is a particularly interesting debate in the USA, which is one of the only nations where companies do not have to legally offer any paid holidays. Despite this, it’s common practice for companies to offer some form of holiday entitlement and those who go above and beyond often benefit from their staff’s improved mental state.
Supportive Culture
As touched upon already, the importance of culture cannot be underestimated. Despite this, instilling a supportive culture isn’t easy and it’s important that it filters down from the top of the organisation.
Culture often happens naturally and is formed based on the personality traits of those who work within the company. To help create a more supportive culture, you may want to consider giving managers access to mental health training and even considering approachability and empathy when hiring new members of staff.
Mental Wellbeing Personal Allowance
Companies that are the most committed to their staff’s mental wellbeing may even offer monthly funds to be spent on anything that can be considered to enhance mental health, something that has become more common in recent times.
When determining what can be considered to boost mental health, it’s important to remember that the answer will vary from individual to individual. One may want to put their mental wellbeing allowance towards cosmetic surgery in Manchester while another may choose to spend it on a takeaway, there really is no right or wrong answer!
Dedicated Helpline or Staff Member
HR departments have seen their roles undergo a significant change in recent times. Nowadays, it’s imperative that larger businesses have a team member who is responsible for staff wellbeing.
In smaller companies, it’s becoming increasingly common to have a dedicated helpline which staff members can reach out to if they are suffering from work-related stress. Failure to offer this to your employees may cause your company to seem outdated.
Final Thoughts
It’s likely that you’ve got a lot of plates to spin as a business owner or manager. Unfortunately, the one that so often gets dropped is the one that is responsible for looking after your team. You may want to consider hiring a new staff member dedicated to your team’s wellbeing or even working with a third party.
No matter how you manage this whether it’s helping fund for a mummy makeover with their personal allowance or personal days, you’ll often find that going the extra mile for your team will result in them going the extra mile for you.
