Can We Create Happier Workplaces by Focusing on the Basics?

The World Health Organization’s theme for Mental Health Day 2022 is to ‘Make mental health a global priority.’ Indeed, it’s hard not to recognize the prevalence of mental health as a key issue on the global stage and in a changing tide of openness to a topic long masked by taboo, stigma and silence.

However, in order to make mental health a global priority, it needs to be established as a responsibility. And the discussion as to who bears the weight of implementing mental health initiatives is a key topic - especially as it relates to the world of work. 

Over the past few years, mental health support went from not being a mainstream concern to becoming a true corporate imperative. The context to this rapid shift, although complex, relates to the significant changes brought about by the global pandemic, and the broad-scale impacts of employee burnout and mass resignation together with the increased DE&I focus.

A recent WHO report found that mental health conditions cost the global economy around $1 trillion each year. There is no denying the fact that mental health issues are rising at a staggering rate and at a huge cost to society and businesses. 

However, in tandem, so too is societal expectations around who is responsible to reverse this trend. In the workplace, the arrow is pointing less at the individual and instead at organizations and employers. While there has been a broad awakening around mental health pivoting away from that of an individual challenge, to a collective priority, it is a complex area.

For organizations of all sizes and scales, it is difficult to grapple with a problem as systemic and nuanced as mental well-being. Many employers have responded with initiatives from mindfulness practices and mental health days to employee assistance programs and other services to enhance employee support. However, according to the 2021 mental health at work report, these are deemed not enough.

Employees are instead looking for broader cultural changes in creating a sustainable, mentally healthy and inclusive work environment that both measures and meets individual employee needs. Core to this is the need for a deeper understanding of employees and a strong sense of workplace community and connectivity. In its simplest form, employers need to adopt a heightened connection to the who, why and where at the heart of employee culture.

In order to understand the psychology of employees, it is key to connect with who they are and what authentic value they bring to organizations. The line between personal and professional is vaguer now than ever before. A 2022 employee benefit survey by Metlife, coins its findings as the rise of the ‘whole employee.’ What this means is that a productive workplace starts by focusing on the whole employee. When employees feel they can truly be themselves at work they can unleash their creative thinking, performance and develop better social connection. 

All of which allows for a culture where people feel respected included and valued, and, as result, comfortable enough to be their authentic selves. In doing so employers are creating environments in which people can learn, adapt, share challenges and build psychological resiliency.

In considering the ‘why’ behind employee choices, employers need to look closely at the changing relationship between people and their work. Recent Gartner research of 5,000 employees and 85 HR leaders looked deeply at the employer value proposition and found that challenges and solutions indicated a problem that focused too much on ‘what we give employees’ rather than ‘why.’ At the crux of this is a need for a better employee/employer relationship built on trust and shared purpose.

The pandemic has undoubtedly been a catalyst for many to question their personal purpose and values. The meaning of reward is multi-layered and to focus on just one form is to fall short on understanding the feeling and features of a workplace that is core to employee motivation. People have started to ask themselves what truly makes them happy. What better place to start that analysis than where you spend most of your time?

The role of place and time in understanding mental health at work, and the cycle of environmental triggers or daily stressors, has undergone a short but highly impactful shift. Remote and hybrid working models mean the ‘where’ employees work and the resulting impact on mental well-being offers a new level of empowerment for them. However, this does not shift the onus from employers, but rather strengthens their responsibility to employee wellbeing.

Understanding the ‘where’ employees work and maintaining a culture of inclusivity and belonging is key to employee well-being in all environments. Supporting employees with flexible working models and creating an environment that helps them thrive personally and professionally is core to fostering a culture of well-being and imperative for employers in taking an authentic approach to mental health management.