Mental health in flexible work arrangements. What employers need to know

Mental health was a taboo subject in Singapore for the longest time, but citizens are now opening their eyes to the reality of mental illness.

With nearly 48% of Singaporean employees miserable and feeling unsupported, organisations need to be more sensitive to people experiencing psychological distress.  However, it’s generally difficult to engage employees and cultivate an inclusive environment remotely.

Remote work and employees’ mental health

For companies to understand how they can help their employees, they need to know exactly how the pandemic has affected people’s mental states. Although the recent rise in popularity of remote work has many benefits, it also has downsides.

For one, it has blurred the boundaries between work and personal life. Some employees may be living in home environments that may not be conducive for focused work, as employees may have to manage family members, pets, loud noises, and other distractions. This can throw a wrench in even the most diligent employee’s schedule. Those living alone or in small, cramped apartments may start feeling lonely, trapped, or isolated. The weak work-life boundaries of remote arrangements may also increase the likelihood that employees will end up overworking themselves at odd hours of the day.

Mental health doesn’t only harm employees—it can affect the lives of those around them, including their children, parents, relatives, and neighbors. Untreated anxiety, stress, and frustration can even lead to violence and harm for others in the vicinity.

Supporting employee wellbeing from a distance

Employers need to do their part in taking mental health seriously. Unfortunately, one study found that half of Singaporean business owners surveyed believed that workplaces should not be responsible for employees’ mental health problems.

But, whether we like it or not, work can be a significant cause of stress. A stressed out and frustrated employee, in turn, cannot do their best work. Depression, anxiety, distress, and insomnia can lead to fatigue, reduced productivity, poor communication, and violent or aggressive outbursts.

This will definitely impact your bottom line. But, more importantly, businesses must keep in mind that looking out for employees means putting people first—that is, prioritising their wellbeing rather than just valuing them for their material contributions to production.

By starting the conversation about mental health and setting a good example, employers can begin to take better care of their employees as well as encourage employees to care properly for their own wellbeing.

Here are a few places you can start:

Create workplace mental wellness programmes

Some Singaporean companies employ a mental health therapist or counselor that employees can anonymously consult when they’re feeling overwhelmed. These programmes, however, should be private and confidential to encourage staff to ask for support when they need it.

Global mining company Rio Tinto, for instance, provides leaders and employees in Singapore with mental health training to recognise “psychosocial hazards”—factors embedded in working conditions, labour relations, and how work is designed and organised, which lead to work-related stress when an individual’s knowledge, resources, and ability to cope do not align with the demands of the job or the company culture. Some examples include bullying in the workplace, mental stress, fatigue, customer aggression, and even isolated or remote work.

The company also prepared peer support initiatives and an Employee Assistance Programme that lets employees access professional psychologists.

More frequent one-on-ones

Regular check-ins and surveys help managers and employees stay connected. It’s a great way for managers to see how their team is doing, tackle what kind of challenges they’re facing, and discuss what leaders of the organisation can do to support their work. It’s also a good opportunity to give constructive feedback.

These meetings have become even more important in the era of remote work. Without meeting face-to-face in the office, employees may feel isolated and disconnected from their organisations. Regular, meaningful communication is key.

How often is often enough may vary across organisations and teams, but some argue that one-on-ones need to happen more than once a month. One benefit of having these meetings often is that you’re able to catch and start solving problems early. By having frequent check-ins, employers and employees can detect and address psychosocial hazards in the workplace before these can cause serious issues.

For instance, if an employee tells you that they’ve been feeling overwhelmed, maybe encourage them to take a break. If they report feeling socially disconnected, consider organising fun team activities that are completely unrelated to work, like group workouts or playing virtual board games.

Conduct regular employee surveys

Aside from one-on-ones, periodic surveys can help organisations take the pulse of how employees are doing. While one-on-ones give employers a deeper understanding of their employees, pulse surveys provide a broader view of teams and the organisation as a whole. These may even help uncover trends within the organisation.

Be sure to include several questions about working from home—as employees and organisations settle into this new way of working, it will be good to get a sense of how people are adjusting, what challenges they’re facing, and what kind of support they think they need.

Use this data to shape more effective HR structures and develop better, more meaningful employee benefits.

Allow for more flexibility

Flexible work arrangements and paid time off work go a long way in helping employees feel like they have more choice and freedom over how they work. These come in many different forms.

Perhaps the most common is the flexitime arrangement, where employees have more control over their work hours. Employees can start and end their workdays at a time that works best for them, but this typically needs to overlap with “core” work hours when the rest of the organisation is online.

Some companies also do compressed work weeks, where employees work fewer days in a week but for longer hours. The most common version is the four-day, 10-hours-a-day workweek.

Expanded leaves are another way to introduce more flexibility into the workplace. This gives employees the option to request longer periods of time away from work while still enjoying employee benefits. Employees can apply for extended leaves for a variety of reasons, including education, sabbaticals, personal time with family, and volunteer work. Some companies even have extended medical leave policies to allow people to take mental health days off even if they don’t have a certificate or doctor’s note.

Respect “off-hours”

Show your commitment to a healthy work environment by committing to respect “off hours.” Victor Mills, chief executive of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, says, "Treating mental illness in the workforce starts with eliminating all possible stress triggers. Toxic managers should be held accountable, and sent for help. Root out purposeless meetings, don't call your colleagues after office hours, and certainly not on weekends, unless it's an emergency.”

Some countries even have “right to disconnect” laws, with the first one enacted in France in 2016. How these laws are implemented may vary across countries and industries, but they are all rooted in the recognition that employers must respect employees’ personal time.

For their part, employees can opt to turn off email notifications on their phones after work. Normalise this, and make it expected behaviour in the organisation.

With work-from-home arrangements blurring the lines between our professional and personal lives, respecting off-hours is even more important now.

Offer meaningful benefits

Steer away from shallow platitudes and unhelpful initiatives.​​ These may do more harm than good, as employees will see through tokenistic gestures. For instance, don’t just talk about valuing mental health in the workplace without requiring managers to respect employees’ right to disconnect from work.

Instead, use your pulse surveys to develop a benefits programme that genuinely helps employees. Ask them what they think would help them and build on that. Check if they need any tools or tips to help them work from home more comfortably .

To support their mental health, some benefits you could offer employees include giving them access to counseling sessions and Employee Assistance Programs, maybe even subscriptions to wellbeing apps like Calm and Headspace.

Meaningful benefits make quite an impact. Employees feel seen, heard, and understood, and are better able to carve out much-needed rest time. It can also improve company perception: showing employees that you’re invested in their overall health and future can help to attract and retain talent. These benefits can also reduce overall healthcare costs for your organisation.

Create a healthier workplace through flexible, digitalised benefits

The future of hybrid work affords more choice and freedom to employees. But flexible work arrangements also place more responsibility on employees to take charge of their emotional and mental wellbeing.

Employers are equally responsible. Nowadays, workplaces can’t afford to make mental health an afterthought. Companies who underestimate its importance—especially in the context of remote work—will suffer from unmotivated and unproductive employees. You’ll also risk being seen as “behind the times” and lose out on great talent to competitors.

A final word of advice

Achieve better returns, drive innovation in the business, and create a more humane workplace by investing in your employees’ long term success. Reach out to Howden for flexible, digitalised benefits. Our specialist brokers will be glad to help.