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Managing the mental health of the work force in a big business is challenging.
Lots of employees, conflicting priorities and different working environments are some
of the challenges business leaders and managers face in supporting the mental health of their people.
Promoting mental health in the work place
benefits everyone; employees, managers, and organisational leaders.
And everyone has a role to play, both in looking after their own mental health and creating
a mentally healthy environment for others.
Unfortunately around one in five employees are likely to be living with a mental health
condition, which can affect their well-being and productivity.
And with untreated depression and anxiety costing employers around 10.9 billion dollars
every year, creating a mentally healthy organisation is a key to improving business performance.
Thankfully, there are a number of cost effective actions you can take.
Here are 10 ideas to get you started.
One: Increase awareness of mental health conditions by providing awareness resources and training
to staff and managers.
Two: Reduce stigma and build understanding in the workplace by arranging for someone
to share their personal experience of a mental health condition and recovery.
Three: Increase awareness of people's roles and responsibilities relating to mental health
by providing information to all employees.
Four: Increase awareness of your business' commitment to creating a mentally healthy workplace
by letting your employees know what you're doing.
Five: Support employees with mental health conditions to stay at or return to work by
developing plans tailored to their needs.
Six: Build the skills and confidence of the employees, so they can approach someone that
they may be concerned about.
Seven: Through training of staff and managers create a discrimination-free workplace where
diversity is respected.
Eight: Monitor workloads and working hours and address concerns directly by looking at
resource levels.
Nine: Ensure a zero tolerance approach to bullying through processes to handle inappropriate
behaviour.
And ten: Provide clarity on job roles by ensuring employees have an up-to-date job description.
This will mean they know what is expected of them.
To find out more on how you can make your workplace more mentally healthy, visit headsup.org.au,
because a mentally healthy workplace is just good business.