A busy life. This is what most of us face nowadays. There seems to be an overall pressure to achieve more and faster than before. The pandemic has made the problem even greater, because our lives have not only become busier, but also more chaotic and physically inactive than ever before.

This issue was most noticeable when the restrictions forced our kids to attend school online. Especially mothers, who tend to engage in the kids’ education the most, had a hard time combining their role as a mother and as an employee under one roof of their home.

However, even now, when children are allowed to leave home, parents continue to work remotely or in the best case – in a hybrid mode. Mixing home and career significantly affects social contacts and physical activity, which results in stress, anxiety and health issues, with mental health being the biggest problem.

New era for mental health at work

According to Harvard Business Review a new era for mental health at work has started. Mental health problems have become a real issue that affects not only individuals, but also employers. Employers should move from seeing mental health as an individual challenge to a collective priority. Given all the workplace factors at play, companies can no longer compartmentalise mental health as an individual’s responsibility that is only addressed through self-care, mental health days, or employee benefits. Kelly Greenwood, CEO of Mind Share Partners suggests this is what they need to provide to make real progress.

Culture Change

Mental health starts with culture change. Leaders must treat mental health as an organisational priority with accountability mechanisms, such as regular pulse surveys and clear ownership in place. It should not just be relegated to HR. Organisations have to train leaders, managers, and all employees in navigating mental and physical health at work, having difficult conversations, and creating supportive workplaces. This can create a cultural change that will have a real impact on health in the work place and in general.

More sustainable ways of working

More sustainable ways of working should be developed to promote mental health. Encouraging autonomy, establishing boundaries, and creating norms around communications, responsiveness, and urgency can go a long way toward building a mentally healthy culture. Once the rules and expectations are defined in a way that supports effective, but healthy way of working, they should be clearly (over) communicated to all and followed by all, starting at the top. Organisations can choose to establish those strategies at the top and then spread them further. It can also be very effective to work on creating norms and strategy together with employees, so that all the members of the organisation are equally engaged and want to live and promote sustainable yet effective ways of working. Organisations with a high level of awareness of how important employee engagement is, often use a very effective approach, called Dragon Dreaming.

Deeper connection

Building real connection between people is key. It should be based on empathy and  authenticity. We are human beings. We all need to be seen and heard to. Also at work.

 “The Heard and the Heard-Nots” – a global study of over 4,000 employees, conducted by The Workforce Institute at UKG and Workplace Intelligence, uncovers measurable business benefits of creating deeper human connections within organisations.

• Highly engaged employees are three times more likely to say they feel heard at their workplace (92%) than highly disengaged employees (just 30%).
• 74% of employees report they are more effective at their job when they feel heard.
• 88% of employees whose companies financially outperform others in their industry feel heard compared to 62% of employees at financially underperforming companies.

Creating deeper connections and a culture of empathy and authenticity, often means that leaders need to learn new competences and get to know their employees better. Although we are living in a digital era, human factor has probably never been as important as it is now.

On top of that, individuals should also be responsible for taking care of themselves and their own mental and physical health. After all, there is no organisation or leader that will fix such a complex issue without active participation of an individual employee. The future of workplace mental health demands culture change — with more vulnerability, compassion, and sustainable ways of working.