Mental Health Awareness Week 2023
Mental Health Awareness Week is an ideal time for us all to think about mental health, tackle stigma, and find out how we can create a society that prevents mental health problems from developing and protects our mental well-being.
The theme of 2023 Mental Health Awareness Week is Anxiety. Anxiety is a normal emotion in us all, but sometimes it can get out of control and become a mental health problem. According to the Mental Health Foundation: ‘Lots of things can lead to feelings of anxiety, including exam pressures, relationships, starting a new job (or losing one) or other big life events. We can also get anxious when it comes to things to do with money and not being able to meet our basic needs, like heating our home or buying food. But anxiety can be made easier to manage.’
Here at H2R Selection, health and wellbeing is incredibly important to us so we have put together some points for how employers can best support their employees. The following is an outline of simple but effective ways employers can make a difference to their workplace and staff wellbeing:
- Developing People Managers’ Skills
Effective people management plays a significant role in both the management and prevention of stress, which can be associated with prevalent mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.
- Signposting To Support
It is crucial for line managers to possess the knowledge and assurance required to direct employees to appropriate expert support, such as recommending a visit to a GP or referring them to occupational health services.
- Review Job Design And Workloads
Research conducted by the CIPD reveals that workloads are the primary contributor to work-related stress. Taking steps to provide employees with meaningful work assignments and reasonable timelines can help alleviate this issue.
- Promote Work-life Balance
Working excessively long hours is not a sustainable approach and will eventually have adverse effects on employees. Striking a healthy balance between work and personal life is essential, as it enables employees to maintain productivity and well-being by feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
- Offer Flexible Working
Flexible working arrangements can provide valuable support for individuals experiencing mental health challenges. It serves as an effective means to proactively mitigate stress and establish a work-life balance that caters to individual needs and circumstances.
- Prevention And Promotion
Employers should also work on prioritising prevention by adopting a range of health promotion activities, offering time management schemes and primary care management.
For more details and information here is a link to the CIPD fact sheet: https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/factsheets/mental-health-factsheet/
Still looking for information? Or wanting to explore how H2R Selection can best support the work place? Then get in touch with one of our HR Professionals for a free 30min consultation: