Fostering a mentally healthy workplace: Practical steps for World Mental Health Month 2024

October marks World Mental Health Month, offering a timely opportunity to highlight the year-round importance of employers understanding mental health issues and supporting their staff. With World Mental Health Day on the 10th of October, it’s an ideal moment to open up conversations about creating a more supportive and mentally healthy workplace.

As many as one in four people will experience mental health issues at some point in their lives. According to CIPD statistics, the latest data reveals that 35.2 million working days were lost due to work-related ill health in 2022/23, with stress, anxiety, and depression accounting for nearly 24 million of these. However, these figures may underrepresent the reality, as some employees use annual leave when unwell, unable to afford statutory sick pay, while others continue working until they reach burnout.

In recent years, the stigma surrounding mental health and wellbeing has thankfully diminished. Many barriers have been broken down, leading to a greater societal understanding and openness in supporting mental, physical, and emotional health.

Yet, managing mental wellbeing in the workplace remains a challenge. Managers often find it difficult to navigate these situations and may need support or training to address them effectively. Without proper training, there is a risk that managers may either take no action or, worse, exacerbate the issue for the employee.

What is the difference between mental health and mental wellbeing?

Mental health and mental wellbeing are often used interchangeably, but they can mean slightly different things to different people.

Mental wellbeing encompasses various aspects, such as:

• How effective we feel in achieving our goals and aspirations
• Our sense of fulfilment, purpose, and connection with friends, family, and colleagues
• How well we cope with daily life
• Our overall contentment

As a manager, it’s important to remember that good mental wellbeing doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of mental health problems. A person may live with a mental health condition but still have good wellbeing. Some individuals with mental health challenges can function normally, making it hard to identify.

Mental health, on the other hand, refers to how we think and feel about our ability to handle different situations and life’s ups and downs. Everyone has mental health, and it can fluctuate throughout life, affected by circumstances and challenges like relationship breakdowns, illness, addiction, bereavement, or debt. Changes at work, such as conflict or shifting responsibilities, can also impact an employee’s mental health.

When someone enjoys good mental health, they typically have a sense of purpose, energy, and the resilience to navigate life’s challenges. In contrast, a person struggling with mental health may exhibit signs such as:

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Heightened emotions
• Low mood
• Suicidal thoughts

These issues can prevent them from managing their life effectively, and in the workplace, this may be reflected through:

• Frequent absences
• Outbursts of anger or frustration
• Unpredictable behaviour, such as an outgoing person becoming withdrawn
• Exhaustion
• Lack of attention to detail
• Changes in physical appearance, like dramatic weight loss or gain
• Poor personal hygiene or disinterest in appearance

Workplace triggers

Maintaining awareness of your team’s mental wellbeing through regular one-to-one meetings, casual discussions, appraisals, and employee engagement surveys is crucial. Given that many people spend as much time at work as they do outside of it, workplace factors can significantly influence mental wellbeing. Common workplace triggers include:

• Relationships with colleagues
• Work-related decisions
• Access to necessary tools and resources
• Employee engagement
• Unrealistic deadlines or workloads
• Poor work-life balance

As a manager, you should consider these factors and address them regularly, providing your team with opportunities to discuss concerns. When employees feel they can speak openly about mental health, issues are less likely to escalate. To create an open and supportive environment, it’s essential to:

• Stay aware of how your team responds to changes
• Encourage early conversations and transparency
• Remind your team that you are available to discuss anything that may be troubling them
• Be supportive, non-judgmental, and empathetic
• Recognise the different personalities within your team

While we are focusing on mental wellbeing, it’s important to acknowledge the close connection between mental health and physical health. Supporting one often means supporting the other. A team that feels supported is more likely to engage, open up about concerns, and ultimately perform better, with improved productivity and attendance.

Improving employee wellbeing

For small businesses, employee illness can have a significant impact. Prioritising employee wellbeing and cultivating a healthy, productive work environment can deliver substantial benefits. The good news is that many wellbeing initiatives are cost-effective or even free.

Here are some practical ways to enhance employee wellbeing:

• Encourage spending time outdoors, such as lunchtime walks or setting a team fitness challenge for remote workers
• Review your sick pay provisions
• Train employees as mental health first aiders
• Offer wellbeing days for employees to focus on themselves
• Increase annual leave entitlement
• Celebrate employee successes and milestones
• Provide flexible working arrangements
• Implement an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Offer healthy snacks
• Allow employees to bring their dogs to work
• Conduct staff surveys
• Signpost to mental health charities like MIND or Samaritans where appropriate

In summary

Strive to create an open and transparent workplace culture where employees feel comfortable discussing their mental health. Encouraging colleagues to voice concerns is a positive step toward supporting and improving overall workplace wellbeing. It’s also crucial to recognise the value of peer support—mental health shouldn’t be seen as solely a management issue. Colleagues are often in a good position to notice changes in behaviour, such as uncharacteristic anger, aggression, or withdrawal. If appropriate, they can offer support or escalate their concerns to the employee’s line manager or HR.

How can SafeHR help your business?

• At SafeHR we can explore drafting your business a mental health at work policy
• Advise on conducting stress risk assessments to identify stress triggers
• We offer  mental health at work, managing conflict at work and having difficult conversation online training courses
• We offer mediation services to aim to resolve differences between colleagues
• We offer guidance and attendance at grievance meetings
• SafeHR has software which enables you to carry out pulse surveys and find out how employees are feeling so you can get feedback from them regularly