{"id":166226,"date":"2021-10-10T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/?p=166226"},"modified":"2024-04-05T11:50:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T10:50:44","slug":"team-mental-health-priority-smes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/team-mental-health-priority-smes","title":{"rendered":"Why Team Mental Health Should Be a Priority for SMEs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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According to the Mental Health Foundation<\/a>, 14.7% of the UK\u2019s employees have experienced mental health problems in the workplace. It can take the form of stress, depression, anxiety, or dependency, and the impact can be devastating. For businesses, it means lost productivity, disruption, and sickness absence \u2013 12.7% of all UK sickness absences can be attributed to mental health conditions, costing up to \u00a38 billion per year. For individuals, it can mean so much more. And as employers, we have the power to make a difference.<\/p>\n

Taking control of workplace mental health<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There has been increasing awareness of the importance of mental health in recent years. But while attitudes are broadly changing, there is still great reluctance among employees to acknowledge that they\u2019re struggling. Having a workplace wellbeing programme can help.<\/p>\n

What can SMEs do to help employee mental health?<\/h2>\n

Create a culture of communication<\/strong><\/h3>\n

An inherent feature of many mental health conditions is an unwillingness to discuss problems. There\u2019s a fear that if we tell our employers what\u2019s going on, we\u2019ll be discriminated against and considered lacking. Creating a culture of communication, where regular mental health \u2018checkups\u2019 are part of work life and there\u2019s space to address concerns can remove that barrier. Implement a system of one-to-ones, surveys, or HR feedback windows, anything that gives your team members a chance to speak out.<\/p>\n

Offer flexibility<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Your business relies upon having people who can get your work done. But for many, a prime cause of stress is arbitrary conditions. A lack of flexibility in working hours \u2013 or working spaces \u2013 can make working life unnecessarily difficult, forcing childcare concerns and other related issues. Flexible working can relieve much of that pressure.<\/p>\n

Provide support<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Everyone is different. And it can be hard to know how to help every problem. But that doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t try. At Intelligent Voice<\/a>, we have recently introduced a mental health helpline for our team. With company-funded therapy sessions to help anyone who needs support.<\/p>\n

Make use of technology<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Even within a culture of communication, not everyone will take the opportunity to speak out. That\u2019s where managers need to play their part. And that\u2019s also where technology can help. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the power to monitor employee behaviour and flag signs of burnout and depression. Changes in the way people work and communicate \u2013 the way they speak, for example \u2013 can signal signs of stress and depression. With the right AI, these can automatically be detected, enabling employers to better support the people who work for them. Of course, this raises other questions about privacy, and any systems would need careful implementation.<\/p>\n

Prioritise wellbeing<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve all had jobs where it\u2019s implicitly understood that work will come home with you. If emails were sent, they needed to be responded to, regardless of the time of day or night. And deadlines took no account of extraneous factors. Don\u2019t be that manager. Encouraging employees to prioritise their own self-care, by prohibiting email use outside of the office and allowing time off for therapy \u2013 or just a bit of breathing space during the day \u2013 can make all the difference.<\/p>\n

Speaking from experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019m an entrepreneur, a business owner, a people manager. I am, I believe, pretty successful. About 20 years ago, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It took me a while to come to the point where I was able to get a diagnosis but it was not soon enough to prevent a rapid deterioration, culminating in a complete breakdown. I was lucky. I had the support of a wonderful family, without whom I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d have got through it. My immediate boss was supportive, I had critical illness insurance and private medical insurance which bought me the best doctors and treatment. But my experience is a rare one. Very few people who have struggled with mental health issues to that degree are able to get through the experience and thrive afterwards. As employers, we have the power to change that:\u00a0 On top of our workplace support package, we offer both critical illness cover and private medical insurance to our staff.<\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s normal is different. My mental health difficulties are unlike anyone else\u2019s. And of course, bipolar isn\u2019t caused by workplace stress, it\u2019s an organic disease. But stress can be a trigger. And that has made me acutely aware of the importance of workplace support.<\/p>\n

Everyone has the right to feel supported in the workplace. No one should be left overwhelmed and unsupported in their job. World Mental Health Day is a good time to remember that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 14.7% of the UK\u2019s employees have experienced mental health problems in the workplace. It can take the form of stress, depression, anxiety, or dependency, and the impact can be devastating. For businesses, it means lost productivity, disruption, and sickness absence \u2013 12.7% of all UK sickness absences can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26278,"featured_media":166227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11041],"tags":[11931,11964],"class_list":["post-166226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","tag-rb-2021","tag-rb-oct"],"views":1759,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}