{"id":46988,"date":"2019-10-23T08:30:48","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T12:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?p=46988"},"modified":"2025-04-22T05:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T09:53:13","slug":"prioritizing-your-employees-mental-health-and-work-life-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/prioritizing-your-employees-mental-health-and-work-life-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Prioritizing Your Employees\u2019 Mental Health and Work-Life Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most managers reading this will already know the principle at the heart of this article: good employees are worth looking after. And hopefully it\u2019s clear that that doesn\u2019t mean chaining them to their desks and wringing every ounce of productivity out of them. It means <\/span><b>supporting them to enjoy their work<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and their life outside it so that they can give their best while they\u2019re on the job.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s no surprise that happy, healthy, engaged employees perform better at their jobs. And mental health forms a key part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/employee-wellbeing\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">employee wellbeing<\/a>. While some perceive a stigma around the term \u201cmental health\u201d, the reality is that everyone has a state of mental wellbeing, and it should be taken into account just the same way as any other factor in an employee\u2019s wellbeing and performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bringing it together, we\u2019re looking at how you can prioritize your employees\u2019 mental health and help them to achieve a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/survey-templates\/employee\/employee-work-life-balance-survey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">healthy work-life balance<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2><b>Understand the Value of Fostering Good Mental Health<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UK Mental health charity Mind notes that companies in the FTSE 100 which prioritize employee engagement and wellbeing<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">outperform their competitors by 10 percent.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Mental health is a key aspect of employee wellbeing and companies that nurture this attitude will enjoy significant benefits. Those investing in promoting mental wellbeing can expect to see an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentalhealth.org.uk\/statistics\/mental-health-statistics-mental-health-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">800% return on investment through reduced absenteeism and presenteeism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So how do you go about improving the mental health of your employees?<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2><b>Take Stock of the Current Mental Health Landscape in Your Company<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first step is to understand the mental health of your organization, so that you can identify the factors involved, the current support systems, and what further improvements you can make. While surveying your employees on this needn\u2019t be a formal process, here are some areas we recommend you ask about to ensure you cover all the essentials:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Workloads<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Are they manageable, agreed on, and suitable for employees\u2019 skills and experience? Workload has been found to be one of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hse.gov.uk\/statistics\/causdis\/stress.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the most common causes of workplace stress<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Autonomy <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Do employees have a say in how they plan and perform their roles?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Personal development <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Employees with opportunities to grow and learn will be happier and more engaged.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Management<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Do managers treat employees fairly, communicate well, and offer recognition and coaching when necessary?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Environment <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Is your office or workplace generally a positive, welcoming, and friendly community, or are there issues like bullying or low morale?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Openness<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Is mental health part of the agenda? Do people feel comfortable raising issues?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Support <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Do your employees know what support methods are available, and are these sufficient?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Policies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Are there clear guidelines in place for managing and promoting mental health?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While tackling, or even surveying, a workplace\u2019s mental health single-handedly might seem daunting to managers, there are plenty of resources out there that can help you plan improvements\u2014most mental health charities offer guides to get you started.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2><b>Improve Support Networks<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use the results of your survey to identify where employees need more help and what systems aren\u2019t fit to support them properly. Employees should know exactly what to do if they have a problem. This includes who they should take concerns to, where they can find any company policies and guides on dealing with particular issues, and what the next steps are.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not all employees will want to go to their managers with concerns and so offering alternative ways to get their voices heard is important to ensure that everyone has a channel they feel comfortable with.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2><b>Build a Better Teamwork Environment<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With common stressors including workload and bullying, building a more collaborative and supportive environment can often help employees\u2019 mental health. Encouraging employees to strengthen interpersonal relationships with their colleagues means they\u2019re more likely to work as a team and help each other out. This will not only improve productivity but make conflict and bullying less likely.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you can improve teamwork among your employees is a broad topic in itself, quick tips include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Team-building activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enabling employees with collaboration tools.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Offering recognition for group efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If employees are working together, they are more likely to share and therefore balance their workloads, ensuring no one person becomes overworked.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2><b>Start by Regularly Checking in With Employees<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The simplest way to monitor the mental health of individual employees is simply to <\/span><b>ask them<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">! Be sure to <a href=\"\/blog\/employee-pulse-surveys-a-healthy-check-in\/ \" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">check in regularly<\/a> with all your staff members to see how things are going for them at work and at home. Making these conversations regular and part of the everyday will lessen the stigma around talking about mental health problems, and employees will feel more comfortable coming forward when they do have a problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s important to respect boundaries, too, and there will be some people who just don\u2019t want to bring their personal lives into the workplace at all. Managers need to respect this while at the same time maintaining an open-door policy if the person in question changes their mind and does decide to share something.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t make a big deal of the fact that they\u2019re \u201cfinally\u201d talking to you\u2014treat their concerns as you do everyone else\u2019s, to prevent them feeling uncomfortable or angry, and being put off the experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2><b>Allow More Flexibility<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simply put, one of the most effective ways to encourage people to work well is to allow them to choose when not to. Employees will generally perform better when they\u2019re satisfied that they can adapt their schedule when needed to deal with life outside of work.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Giving employees a say in their working hours is especially helpful for those that work shifts, as they can customize their schedule more, ensuring they\u2019re still managing a healthy lifestyle. Shift working patterns have several negative side effects, and offering employees control can go some way to countering them.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There may be other ways in which their hours are causing stress to an employee or negatively affecting their work-life balance. Even if you can offer total flexibility, a bit of leeway might be all they need to correct issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It might be something simple like needing to come in slightly later on certain days so that they can drop their kids off at school or run errands. Or they just want the freedom to choose which days they have off so that they can make social engagements outside of work.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whatever level of control you are able to give your employees, consider the positive impact these changes could have before dismissing them just because of the increase in admin and possible disruption. Having happier, more productive workers, empowered by these and the other tips given here for prioritizing their mental health, will more than likely pay for itself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom--blog-banner\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"bottom--blog-banner-1 alignnone\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/release-banner-bottom-new.png\" alt=\"Work-Life Balance\" width=\"886\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-float text-float-1\">#SoGoGetExcited!<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-float text-float-2\">Ready to take action? Review our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/survey-templates\/employee\/employee-work-life-balance-survey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Work-Life Balance Survey<\/a> today and start building balance!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most managers reading this will already know the principle at the heart of this article: good employees are worth looking after. And hopefully it\u2019s clear that that doesn\u2019t mean chaining them to their desks and wringing every ounce of productivity out of them. It means supporting them to enjoy their work and their life outside it so that they can give their best while they\u2019re on the job.\u00a0 It\u2019s no surprise that happy, healthy, engaged employees perform better at their jobs. And mental health forms a key part of employee wellbeing. While some perceive a stigma around the term \u201cmental health\u201d, the reality is that everyone has a state of mental wellbeing, and it should be taken into account just the same way as any other factor in an employee\u2019s wellbeing and performance.\u00a0 Bringing it together, we\u2019re looking at how you can prioritize your employees\u2019 mental health and help them to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Understand the Value of Fostering Good Mental Health UK Mental health charity Mind notes that companies in the FTSE 100 which prioritize employee engagement and wellbeing outperform their competitors by 10 percent. Mental health is a key aspect of employee wellbeing and companies that nurture this attitude will enjoy significant benefits. Those investing in promoting mental wellbeing can expect to see an 800% return on investment through reduced absenteeism and presenteeism.\u00a0\u00a0 So how do you go about improving the mental health of your employees? Take Stock of the Current Mental Health Landscape in Your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":5040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[164,367,210],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Prioritizing Your Employees\u2019 Mental Health and Work-Life Balance - Sogolytics Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want your employees to be more engaged? 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