Tips for Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace

June 8, 2021

Your Company Relies on Your Workers’ Minds. Their Minds Rely on a Mentally Healthy Workplace

If you want your California workplace to be one where happy and motivated workers are consistently productive, collaborate effectively, and get stuff done, then you want a mentally healthy workplace.

Why Having a Mentally Healthy Workplace Matters

You can’t spend eight hours (and likely more) five days a week (and maybe more) in any environment without the people, places, and things of the environment impacting your attitude and outlook. These effects on your attitude are especially true in the workplace, where deadlines, pressures, and many other stressors come at you every day. The regular stress that comes with most jobs can be even worse at California companies that treat their employees as drones whose mental and psychological well-being doesn’t matter as long as they get their work done.

The problem with that attitude, however, arises when Californian employees who don’t have a mentally healthy workplace are far less likely to perform at their best and far more likely to develop mental and physical health issues that result in lost productivity and higher employee turnover.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), five of the ten leading causes of disability worldwide are mental health-related. This lost productivity costs businesses and the global economy an estimated $1 trillion each year.

Signs of a Mentally Unhealthy Work Environment

The WHO identified several workplace risks that have adverse effects on employees’ mental health, including:

Inadequate safety and health policies
Poor management and communication practices
Limited opportunities to participate in decision-making or low control over one’s area of work
Low levels of support for employees
Lack of social support or team cohesion
Inflexible working hours
Bullying and harassment
Unclear tasks or organizational objectives

Ways to Create a Mentally Healthy Workplace

The WHO defines a mentally healthy workplace as one “where workers and managers actively contribute to the working environment by promoting and protecting the health, safety and well-being of all employees.”

California organizations should take a three-pronged approach to minimizing and addressing mental health issues in the workplace:

Reduce work-related risk factors
Promote mental health by emphasizing the positive aspects of work and the strengths and talents of employees
Help employees with any mental health issues regardless of their cause

The keys to a mentally healthy workplace revolve around four core concepts: respect, autonomy, participation, and support. Giving employees all of these four elements can go a long way towards increasing employee mental health and job satisfaction.

Here are eleven tips that can help you in your efforts to create a positive and supportive work environment:

Empower employees by involving them in decision-making and giving them more job autonomy
Offer employees flexible work scheduling, flex time, and other policies that help them manage the demands they face both at and away from work
Provide your California employees with opportunities for career development, continuing education, tuition reimbursement, and leadership development
Offer group health insurance plans that help employees optimize their physical and mental health and develop healthy lifestyles, such as stress management, weight-loss, and smoking-cessation programs
Recognize and reward employees both monetarily and non-monetarily through performance-based bonuses and pay increases, profit-sharing, employee awards programs, and genuine expressions of thanks
Establish and support employee assistance programs and provide mental health resources, and ensure that there’s no stigma or negative consequences attached to reaching out for help
Offer stress management and time management courses
Deliver mental health interventions as part of an integrated health and well-being strategy that covers prevention, early identification, support, and rehabilitation
Encourage employees to get enough sleep
Plan fun and stress-relieving activities
Educate employees about harmful workplace conduct such as bullying, discrimination, and harassment and implement robust policies to handle such behavior and help victimized employees.

Employee Health and Employee Healthcare Work Hand-In-Hand. We Can Help

Promoting the physical and mental health of California workers – and, by extension, enhancing their employers’ bottom lines – is at the heart of what we do at Preferred Insurance.

As an experienced California small business and individual health insurance broker, we help small business owners navigate the complicated landscape of group health insurance coverage. We take the time to listen to your concerns and learn about your business so that we can offer you the most affordable coverage options with the best benefits for your workforce. We’ll answer your questions, save you time and money, and provide you with the personal attention and support your small business needs and deserves when it comes to group health insurance.

Call us to schedule a free consultation with a health insurance broker to discuss your small business or individual health insurance needs.