Mental Health Awareness Week: Personio’s 3 strategies for boosting employee’s mental health

Mental Health Awareness Week is a great opportunity for businesses to reflect on the health of their employees – and whether they are supporting their wellbeing the best they can.

The importance of this is two-fold. Not only is providing employees with a supportive working environment the right thing to do, but there is also a clear business case to make it a priority. A happy and healthy workforce almost always leads to greater rates of engagement, productivity and employee retention.

That said, supporting your staff with their wellbeing doesn’t always require financial investment or grand gestures. As well as re-considering benefits, remuneration and direct support, building a transparent, supportive and flexible working environment can be the ticket to success.

As businesses continue to grapple with how to foster a culture of mental wellness, here are the top three strategies that I believe business leaders and HR teams could and should be embracing.

Beyond the paycheck: A holistic benefits package

Gone are the days when employees cared purely about pay. In fact, our recent research at Personio has found that the demand for other benefits including discount schemes (24%), enhanced pension contributions (24%) and wellness and mental health support (23%) have climbed higher, and can go a long way in keeping workforces engaged.

To support wellbeing, a great first step for businesses is to look at how they can provide a more comprehensive and flexible package that suits the physical, financial and mental health needs of employees. This could include providing access to private medical plans, mental health support via counselling or other wellbeing benefits including gym membership discounts.

Speak with your employees to determine which benefits would make them happiest, or consider a pick-and-mix approach where employees can opt in and out of certain benefits that suit where they are at in life. Tailored and intentional benefits and remuneration packages can have a truly powerful effect on employees and their mental wellbeing.

Employ flexible working arrangements

We all know that individual wellness cannot and should not be the sole responsibility of an employer, but there’s no denying that they play a really important role. After all, employees spend a significant amount of their time at work. Organizations would be well placed to consider themselves as key facilitators of maintaining high levels of wellbeing.

Business outcomes are often grounded in employees delivering high-quality work which supports the bottom line. But giving staff flexibility in how, and when, they do their work – and providing them with a better work-life balance in the process – can make it easier for people to manage their mental health.

It may just be simple things like having the freedom to flexibly attend therapy sessions during the working day, or logging off before rush hour to help cope with anxiety.

When it comes to flexibility, expectations of businesses are changing at pace. Not only are employees resoundingly asking for greater flexibility, with our recent data finding that almost one-third (32%) of employees would like the opportunity to work more flexibly – it’s now a legal right.

For example, the UK’s Flexible Working Act allows all employees the right to request flexible working arrangements, making it a fundamental part of a business strategy.

To implement a policy that works well for each individual business, communication is key. Checking in with employees to find out exactly what works for them, assessing their needs against the needs of the business and their legal obligations, will set business leaders on the right path.

Building trust, building success

Neither flexible working or comprehensive benefits packages will be fully effective unless they are part of a culture of open communication and trust between employees, senior leadership and HR.

Not only does this help employees to feel valued, but it also helps them to be more comfortable in discussing their concerns or worries at work and in life.

Now, this is not a quick fix. You can’t simply declare at your company meeting that you are a trustful employer and expect things to change overnight. A strong company culture built on trust takes time and effort to build.

One way leaders can tackle this challenge is to utilize surveys and pulse checks to speak to employees, allowing leaders and HR personnel to take a temperature check on their wellbeing, and gather insights into how they can be further supported.

But trust is only really built when leadership turns insight into action. With Personio’s latest research finding that four in 10 (38%) employees don’t believe the leadership in their organization listen to and act on feedback from employees, businesses need to make it clear to employees that they’re taking their thoughts and feelings on board – and act on them.

Businesses don’t always need to strain company resources to do this effectively. For example, sharing survey results and communicating exactly what action is going to be taken off the back of it, for example during regular company business meetings, is a simple yet effective way to show you’re actively listening as a business.

In essence, actively checking in on employees regularly and then demonstrating that their insights are being actioned is a brilliant way for business leaders to foster a culture of honesty, openness, and transparency – and in turn, having the wellbeing of their employees at the heart of everything they do.

It’s imperative that Mental Health Awareness Week isn’t brushed off as a fad, or just another week in the calendar. Wellbeing and mental health must be a priority all year round, however this week provides a critical opportunity for employers to reconsider what is important to their specific employees and whether their current support system is hitting the mark.

If it’s not, not only is the wellbeing of employees at risk, but so is the productivity and success of the entire organization.