The conversation surrounding mental health has improved greatly in recent years. Where it once was taboo, now people are gradually feeling more comfortable discussing it and taking steps to improve on it. Be it online therapy or offline training (companies similar to hoofdbass prove useful in this regard), people are beginning to speak up and take action about their mental health. Businesses are finally making themselves aware of mental health too, but what’s sparked this change?

Necessity

Part of this change has been forced by the necessity of addressing mental health issues due to the clear impact on workers and, therefore, businesses: Mind has found that one in six workers suffer from mental health issues.

Research from the University of Warwick shows that we’re 12 per cent more productive when we’re happy – invest in mental health and your business should notice the difference. That is, these statistics clearly show that mental health is now a critical part of running a business: the wellbeing of your employees is directly related to the success of your company.

Signs

With mental health becoming a key area within business, you should also be prepared to notice the warning signs of mental health issues. Physical symptoms often accompany mental health concerns, and these are the things you should look to pick up on. An employee might complain about persistent headaches, their productivity might have dropped off, and they might be irritable or absent. If you do fear there might be an issue, ensure that you approach it sensitively. It is true that employee health is a very important aspect of business success, and it requires specific expertise to tackle it.

How businesses should react

But how can your own business ensure that it reacts to mental health issues appropriately? Different people require different solutions for their mental health problems and, as such, businesses need to take the time to fully understand the individuals involved and come up with a sincere response. You might also want to consider providing professional help to your employees and sharing valuable data through websites and self-help books. You could check out websites like The Monk Mindset (or similar) to learn how to respond to mental health issues.

If your business is attempting to play a role in providing mental health services, it’s vital to have care insurance in place to protect everyone involved.

Getting support within a business

Another thing to focus on is ensuring that your mental health strategy has buy-in across the business. Often, employees are suspicious when initiatives are implemented from the top down. The best mental health investments are those which are grassroots-led within the business – in other words, they’re guided by colleagues rather than those at the top.

Training staff to become mental health first aiders is another way of encouraging responsibility across the business, and having clear lunchtimes without meetings can also increase mental performance at work. Strategic planning and distributed workload can reduce mental health issues in a workplace. A company head with leadership qualities can assist the employees to deal with these situations. As a manager, you can look for leadership coaching certification programs to learn and implement the tactics in the office to improve work performance and guide coworkers. Furthermore, an office can hire a mental health professional to visit office premises once in a while to talk with the employees suffering from psychological issues.

Broader mental health

Mind also suggests five ways to try and reach better general mental wellbeing, which are also applicable to business contexts. These include: connecting with people (colleagues) to build relationships of support, being active and moving more, being aware of the present, learning something new and showing kindness by helping other people.