10 ways to support your employees' mental health

Taking care of your greatest asset

Many employees are fighting every day with mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression. So It's really important that businesses know how to take care of their people.

Supporting employee mental health

Take steps to reduce the stigma around mental health problems at an organisational level. Reviewing your policies around wellbeing, ensuring these are in place and are regularly updated is essential to ensuring your employees feel safe and supported. The more open the culture is around talking about mental health issues the safer and more willing employers are to share and seek help.
Involve your employees in building a positive culture for wellbeing and supporting mental by encouraging them to look out for each other. Not all wellbeing initiatives need to be driven from the top but can be adopted in the attitudes of employees themselves.
Ensure that you are making the time to regularly check in with employees be it virtually or in person, and trying to understand how they are on a personal level can make a huge difference.
Consider training your managers and leaders in spotting the signs of poor mental health within their teams. The more knowledge around what to look for, the greater the chance that support will reach those who need it.
Ensure that you advocate an ‘open door policy’ in which employees are openly invited to voice any concerns regarding their mental health.
Make it clear that any conversations you have with employees will be kept confidential so employees feel supported and able to share any issues that they may have.
Make the necessary adjustments that are required to address the key issues that employees may be struggling with. This could be a reduced or altered work schedule which allows an employee to attend medical appointments or attend to other responsibilities.
Ensure that your business leaders and those in senior positions lead by example and take active steps to improve their own mental health. By voicing what you do to support your own mental health can go a long way in encouraging others to do the same.
Encourage employees to draw on their own social support networks such as friends and family. Social connectedness is an important protective factor in reducing the negative impact of poor mental health.
Signpost employees to support services you already have in place such as counselling sessions, a Digital GP or an EAP. Often employees are unaware of what is available to support them and it can be useful to send out reminders so they are able to access the help they need.